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The Grinnell Brothers were a well-known name throughout most of the 1900s. Ira, Herbert, and Clayton Grinnell moved their business into Detroit in 1882, which became their headquarters. Their store sold a variety of things including furniture and instruments, but their business really expanded once the brothers began to manufacture their own pianos in 1902. The brothers eventually constructed 3 piano manufacturing plants (Holly, MI, Detroit, MI, and Windsor, ON) along with numerous warehouses and stores to meet consumer demands. The piano factory built in Detroit was located at 437 Jones Street between 1st Avenue and Cass Avenue (Jones is now known as Plaza Drive).
The factory first appears on the 1921 edition Sanborn Insurance Maps. Surrounding the factory off of Jones are 2 buildings for rooming, a hotel, machine shops, a laundry store, and printing and chemical manufacturers. The array of businesses in this small area suggests there once was a thriving community in the area. An old photograph of the factory showcases a large brick building with lettering marking it as the Grinnell Bros. Piano Factory. Currently, this location boasts a cemented parking lot.
Wurlitzer was the Grinnell Brothers’ biggest competition, but even with a competitor their business continued to expand with over 40 stores in the United States and Ontario, hence the need for 3 different factories. The Grinnell Brothers ended up selling the business in 1955, but it was still known as the largest piano retailer in the 1960s. Grinnell’s president, Jack Wainger, felt confident about his business telling the Detroit Free Press that, “Downtown Detroit is coming back as a place to shop.” Grinnell continued to be successful up until the Detroit Riots of 1967. The riots deterred people from coming downtown and subsequently, business began to decline.
The Grinnell business endeavors were rocky all the way up to 1981 when the company was completely liquidated. The failure of this business left numerous buildings that once belonged to the Grinnell Brothers like the piano factory on Jones Street, abandoned. There are some traces of a unique material culture left behind in the Grinnell buildings that are still standing, but for buildings like the piano factory, the present-day will not be able to potentially create a new material culture (for example, one warehouse is now repurposed into trendy domestic lofts). Today, there is cement covering a location that once produced grand instruments, leaving behind the idea that the old music is buried in Detroit.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRh-CuhkDpg
http://historicdetroit.org/building/grinnell-brothers-music-house/
