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).

Conn-Selmer (2003-present)

In January 2003, Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. merged The Selmer Company with United Musical Instruments to form a single entity under the name, Conn-Selmer, Inc. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, band instrument company, G. Leblanc, was acquired by Steinway in August 2004, as a line under the Conn-Selmer umbrella.

According to its website, "Conn-Selmer, Inc. is the leading manufacturer and distributor of band and orchestral instruments for professional, amateur and student use. The Company manufactures and distributes its products under a variety of well-known brand names, including Vincent Bach brass, Selmer USA woodwinds, C. G. Conn brass, King brass, Armstrong woodwinds, Ludwig and Musser percussion and Glaesel string instruments. Other brands include Scherl & Roth and William Lewis & Son string instruments, Emerson flutes, Benge brass and Artley woodwinds. Under its Leblanc, Inc. division, purchased in 2004, the company also manufactures and distributes Leblanc, Holton, Noblet, Vito band instruments. Conn-Selmer is also the exclusive North American distributor for Selmer (Paris) professional brass and woodwinds and U.S. distributor for Yanagisawa saxophones. Conn-Selmer manufactures instruments in facilities located in Elkhart, Indiana; Cleveland and Eastlake, Ohio; Monroe, North Carolina, and LaGrange, Illinois."

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