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Wilkins & Newhall

The Newhall name is one of the older and more renowned names in the American piano industry.

Dwight & Newhall:  Daniel B. Newhall was born in Boston in 1813, and was building pianos by his early 20s. Sometime in the 1820s, archives suggest that Daniel Newhall went into partnership with John Dwight to form the firm of “Dwight & Newhall”. Dwight & Newhall were awarded a patent for an ‘iron bar’ in 1824 which was the forerunner of the cast iron plate used in pianos in later decades.

Wilkins & Newhall:  In 1832 Daniel B. Newhall entered into partnership with Levi Wilkins to form the firm of “Wilkins & Newhall“.  At first their factory was located at 23 Temple Street, but by the 1840s the firm had moved to the more fashionable location of 355 Washington Street, Boston. Archives suggest this partnership dissolved in 1855 with the death of Daniel B. Newhall.

Alfred Newhall: Daniel B. Newhall died in March of 1855, at which time his son, Alfred Newhall, took over the firm. Alfred Newhall brought John B. Mullin and Nelson S. Read into partnership, and the name of the firm was changed to “A. Newhall & Company”. The few surviving pianos by the firm are labeled as A. Newhall & Company as well as Alfred Newhall & Company.

None of the partnerships listed above ever built pianos in large numbers, but their instruments were exceedingly well made and of superior craftsmanship. Newhall was out of business before the Civil War, and their instruments are exceedingly rare and of museum caliber today.

INSTRUMENT CATALOGS & EPHEMERA

Can you find your instrument listed in these antique catalogs?

A. Newhall Piano Advertisement
Early 19th Century A. Newhall Piano Advertisements (successors to Wilkins & Newhall) circa 1855