A Brief History of the Conn Company (1874-present)*

by Margaret Downie Banks, Ph.D.
Senior Curator of Musical Instruments
National Music Museum
Vermillion, South Dakota

© Copyright 1997-2009 by The National Music Museum.
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*Excerpted and updated from Elkhart's Brass Roots: An Exhibition to Commemorate the 150th Anniversary of C. G. Conn's Birth and the 120th Anniversary of the Conn Company by Margaret Downie Banks (Vermillion, South Dakota: The Shrine to Music Museum, 1994).

Carl Dimond Greenleaf Era (1915-1959)

Carl D. Greenleaf (1876-1959), an Ohio flour miller by profession, claimed that he knew essentially nothing about musical instruments, when he invested in the company, although he admitted that he was a poor, self-taught alto horn player. Nevertheless, one of the first improvements made by the straitlaced, but efficient businessman, was the expansion, upgrading, and retooling of the Elkhart plant. By 1917, the work force had increased to 550 and the new assembly-line factory was turning out close to 2,500 instruments per month using a new hydraulic expansion process to produce a more consistent product.

Carl Dimond Greenleaf, owner of C. G. Conn Ltd., 1915-1959. From the Conn Archives at the National Music Museum.   © 1997-2009 by The National Music Museum.

Hydraulic expansion machine introduced by Carl Greenleaf for creating brass instrument taper branches, ca. 1920. From the Conn Archive at the National Music Museum.   © 1997-2009 by The National Music Museum.

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