Bromley & Bromley, 1895David Rumsey Collection
In 1837, at a time when Ohio was still considered "the West," William Bourne set up a piano factory in Dayton, a city of 1000 souls. Within three years, he had removed to Cincinatti, where he took a lead position in another piano factory. In 1842, he took a job with Chickering in Boston, becoming a department foreman. In 1846, he started his own business. Bourne died in 1885, leaving the company to a son. In 1911, the company built a factory on Highland avenue in Needham.
The 1895 map segment above shows the location of the Bourne Piano factory on Lamartine st. The information I've located about the Bourne company is thin, but I thought it was worthwhile to record that Boston's extensive piano business extended as far as the edge of today's Jamaica Plain.
Sources: Pianos and Their Makers, History of the American Pianoforte, History of Needham Massachusetts.
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