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Hrian Winterca Hstorie a Whitby THE PIANO FACTORY As well as being- the home of a clock manufacturing company in the 19th century (See column of March 21), Whitby was the home of a piano factory and an organ factory. This week we look at the piano factory. In November 1860, Joseph F. Rainer, who had 20 years of experience at making pianos in Austria,-Germany, the United States and Canada, opened a piano factory in an abandoned carriage factory building on Mary Street in Whitby. The piano factory was on the south side of Mary Street, east of Byron Street. For several years the piano factory was a thriving operation, producing about one instrument per week, ranging in price from $300 to $700. Fourteen men were employed by Mr. Rainer to assemble the piano works, carve the wood and put the fine finish on the elaborate Victorian-style pianos. In the 19th century, before the age of television and radio, nearly every family of means had a piano or an organ in the home, and the children all took music lessons. Mr. Rainer exhibited his pianos at provincial exhibitions, .where. in competition with other manufacturers, he often took Council has passed a reso- lution endorsing the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications' pro- posal to reconstruct High- way 7 and 12 from North Street in Brooklin to the Whitby-Scugog Town Line. This project is tenatively scheduled for construction in 1981. At present, the highway consists to two 11-foot paved lanes with eight-foot granu- lar shoulders within a road allowance of 86 feet. The province wishes to upgrade the highway by widening the road to two 12-foot lanes and shoulders of two-foot paved and eight-foot granular widths, so the en- tire roadway an be increased in width to 120 feet where possible. In addition, there will be some minor grade changes to make the road profile smoother. Also, through Myrtle and Myrtle Station there will be some urban type sections built with mountable gutters, paved shoulders and side- walks where they presently exist. Any additional side- first prize. At the Provincial Exhibition in Kingston in 1859 he won first prize for one of his pianos. In 1861 he won first prize and a diploma at the Provincial Exhibition in London, Ontario, and the same at the Toronto Electoral Division and Toronto Mechanics' Institute Union Exhibition. In 1866 he won a diploma and special prize at the Provincial Exhibition in Toronto, in 1867 he won first prize and diploma for'piano of any kind at the Provincial Exhibition at Kingston and in 1868 he won the first prize and silver medal and diploma at the Provincial Exhibition in Montreal. The same year he won first prize and diploma for piano of any kind at the provinical Exhibition in Hamilton. Mr. Rainer often made pianos of superior quality especially for these exhibitons. In 1868 he produced a piano which won prizes at Montreal and Hamilton, and was purchased by an Orono furniture manufacturer, John Waddell. This piano remained in the Waddell family until 1967, and in 1970 it was acquired by the Whitby Historical Society, The Waddell piano is in the Lynde House museum. The only other ' example of a Joseph Rainer Piano is at Upper Canada Village at Morrisburg. The piano in the Lynde House is made of walnut and lined with bird's eye maple. The carved music rack has the Canadian beaver in its central motif. Across the face plate above the keys, flowers and leaves of colored mother-of-pearl spill from horns of plenty on each side. These are accented with gold leaf and all done with such skill that from a short distance it resembles a painting. The cabriole legs are carved as in the pedal support. The piano has a French finish which accents the fine walnut grain. Mr. Waddell offered $700 on the spot for the piano when he saw it at the provincial exhibition in Montreal, but had to wait until it had been exhibited at Hamilton before he could take possession. of it. walks will be the town's responsibility to construct. There is no immediate financial impact on the town with this work, said Public Works Director Dick Kuw- ahara, since it is a provincial project. If the Brooklin Study Report is adopted, and the recommendations relating to Baldwin Street are imple- mented, the present location of Highway 7 and 12 would be relocated, he said. This would become a-local street and maintenance and upkeep -,would be come a municipal responsibility. VHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4. 1979, PAGE 3 The Josep r. Raner piano cormpany prospered n Whlitby until April 1872 when Mr.Rainer approached the town cóuncil for a loan to extend his busness, which then employed 20 men. The council did not approve the loan. Meanwhile a group of Guelph businessmen raised the required capital and enticed Mr. Rainer to move to their community. In June 1872, Mr. Rainer's piano factory left Whitby, as so many other factories had done. The Whitby piano factory was taken over by a German named Carl Gortzig, but its future was not good. On Nov. 27, 1873, a fire broke out in the Mechanics' Institute beside the piano factory, and because the building was saturated with oil and other flammable materials, the piano factory was soon engulfed in flames. Al the tools, two pianos and a quantity of material were saved by the fire fighters, but the loss of the piano factory cost Mr. Gortzig $2,000. He was insured for only $700. Mr. Gortzig continued to manufacture pianos in another building until the 1890s at the rate of about one a year, but Whitby was never again the site of an extei»ive piano manufacturing company like that operated by Josêþh Rainer. CUSTOM LA CONTESSA BEAUTY LOUNGE 119 Green Street 668-9262 THE.WALLPAPER CENTRE OSHAWA AJAX 140 SIM0E ST. S. 579 - 1655 1331 HA RWOO D A VE. N. 686 - 0719 (Corner John Opp. Salvation Army H.Q.) (Just N, of Hwvy 401 and Pennyvvorths) HOUR S. HOUR S- Mon- Thur s Fr iday Saturday Mon - Wed Thur s - Fri Saturday 9 -30 F) 30 9 30 9 00 9 30. 5 30 9 30-• 5 30 9 30 -9 00 9 30 - 5 30 I uJ. Council endorses Highway 12 reconstruction; work widens Brook linto Scugog road in 1981 -YI ElRS Jj û)l4erngU Exellenr prces on niade diapes. ~6,8-4j21 av