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.
All Rights Reserved.
No portion of this site, including this page and any of the separate pages, may be copied, retransmitted, reposted, duplicated or otherwise used without the express written permission of The National Music Museum.

*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).

Fire of 1910

A disastrous fire totally destroyed Conn's Jackson Street factory on May 22, 1910. The plant burned while Conn was fishing off Catalina Island, California. Upon his return to Elkhart four days later, Conn announced his determination to rebuild his Elkhart facility on a portion of his farm land near the edge of town. Work began on the East Beardsley Street facility in August. The Spanish Mission style factory was in full operation a mere four months later. Claiming great improvements in the redesign of his instruments following the fire, Conn temporarily dropped the Wonder trademark in order to introduce his New Invention line.

Conn's factory, ca. 1911. From the Postcard Collection of Margaret Downie Banks.
  © 1997-2009 by Margaret Downie Banks.

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