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

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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).

Daniel Henkin Era (1980-1985)

Daniel Henkin (b. 1930) left his position as advertising manager with Conn in 1970 to purchase the K. G. Gemeinhardt Co. Inc. (flutes) of Elkhart. He sold that company to CBS in 1977, just three years prior to his historic purchase of C. G. Conn Ltd. and all its subsidiaries from MacMillan (1980). According to the November 1985 issue of The Music Trades, the multi-million-dollar deal represented the largest single sale of musical instrument manufacturing facilities to one individual. Companies included in the deal were C. G. Conn Ltd. (Lombard, Illinois), Conn Brasswind Co. (Abilene, Texas), Slingerland Drum Co. (Niles, Illinois), Scherl & Roth (Cleveland), Artley, Inc. (Nogales, Arizona), Continental Music Distributors (Atlanta), The Productos Musicales, S.A. (Sonora, Mexico), Camex, S.A. (Sonora), Goshen Case Co. (Goshen, Indiana), and Coin Art Manufacturing (Nogales).

With every intention of resurrecting and reestablishing the Conn company in Elkhart, Henkin hosted an extravagant "Welcome Home Conn Week" in Elkhart in May of 1981. He eventually brought the corporate offices back to Elkhart, appointed popular "Tonight Show" band leader Doc Severinsen as Vice President of Product Development, introduced the Severinsen trumpet and Henkin student clarinet, and attempted to strengthen Conn's holdings with the acquisition of both the W. T. Armstrong Company (1981) and King Musical Instruments (1983). However, citing medical reasons as well as his decision "to become a free man," Elkhart's self-proclaimed "Music Man" sold his extensive holdings in October 1985 to the Swedish conglomerate, Skäne Gripen (the Slingerland Drum Co. was not part of this transaction).

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