62 | JUNE 29 • 2023 

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Tickling the Ivories
I 

read a recent article by Neal Rubin, who was writing about a 
common plight in modern America. A woman was trying to 
find someone to take her piano. She’s on a tough path.
First, pianos are heavy and extreme-
ly hard to move. Trust me. In my 
younger days, I helped a friend move 
a baby grand piano into the lower 
level of his house. “It’s just a couple 
of steps down,” he said. It might have 
been easier to lift the back end of my 
car or maybe push an 
elephant out of my way. 
What a job that was!
More to the point, 
however, pianos are 
no longer the popular 
home essential that they 
were in the past, espe-
cially with the advent of 
electronic keyboards. From the statis-
tics I found online, sales of acoustic 
pianos have dramatically declined, 
from about 277,000 in 1978 to 30,000 
in 2021. At the same time, sales of 
electric pianos reached 240,000, and an 
amazing 966,000 digital keyboards. 
Rubin also cited a fact from 
American Heritage Magazine — in 
1905, there were more pianos and 
organs in U.S. homes than bathtubs. 
The point is that, before radios, TV 
and movie theaters, pianos were a 
primary form of home entertainment. 
A search in the William Davidson 
Digital Archives of Jewish Detroit 
History supports this conclusion. 
I found hundreds of piano-related 
advertisements, offers for piano les-
sons, and announcements for con-
certs and performances over the last 
century.
The undisputed kings of pianos in 
Detroit were the Grinnell Brothers. 
The company placed almost weekly 
advertisements in the Detroit Jewish 
Chronicle and many more in the JN.
Founded in Ann Arbor in 1879 by 
Ira Grinnell, the company first sold 
sewing machines. Musical instruments were soon added, along 

with Ira’s brothers, Clayton and Herbert. The Grinnell Brothers 
then moved to Ypsilanti, and finally, in 1908, moved into its sig-
nature Albert Kahn-designed building on Woodward Avenue in 
Detroit. It’s still there today. 
The Grinnell Brothers began building their own pianos 
in 1902. They were known 
for high quality in a variety of 
styles as the company grew. 
Grinnell Brothers survived 
the Depression and flourished 
until the 1960s. Then the 
world of home entertainment 
began to change. The flagship 
store closed in 1981.
Grinnell Brothers pianos are 
still made today, however. You 
can find them at the Steinway 
Piano Gallery in Commerce 
Township.
The Grinnell Brothers’ ads 
really speak to the history 
of homelife in early Detroit. 
The early ads told stories of 
piano joy such as the full-
page ad in the Oct. 19, 1917, 
Chronicle (notice the guy pull-
ing the piano into the room. 
Superman, no doubt). A 1919 
ad touts “With What Gladness 
a Piano Would be Welcome 
in YOUR Home,” and in 
1926, see “
After the Front 
Door is Locked.” The Grinnell 
Brothers’ 25th annual sale ad 
in October 1928 showed that 
the company was also selling 
radios and talking machines 
(yes, I had to look that one up. 
“Talking machines” are now 
known as phonographs!). 
Although the heyday of 
pianos as essential home 
devices may be over, thousands of pianos are still sold each year 
in Detroit by Evola Music, the Piano Store, Solich Piano, the 
Steinway Piano Gallery and other shops. Plenty of people still 
like to play the piano or “tickle the ivories.” 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at 

www.djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

