F. G. Smith, Bradbury Pianos, 5 W. 19th St. (142 5th Ave.) (2005)

The Blue Book of Pianos writes: [The Bradbury Piano is] "One of the great names in the American piano industry. Founded over a half century ago, it attained to a place very high in the world of art. It is an instrument of the highest grade. The materials which enter into its construction are of the finest, the scale is recognized by experts to be of peculiar sweetness and power, and the Bradbury has been the favorite with numberless critics and pianists. All of the good points of the Bradbury piano are found in the players of the same name. The famous instrument is controlled by W. P. Haines & of New York. With factories at Leominster, Mass". (The date of the Blue Book's description is difficult to determine, but it appears to be 1930s.)

Notice appeared in the New York Daily Times 12 May 1853 to the effect that Bradbury's Piano and Melodeon Warerooms had moved to larger quarters at No. 423 Broadway. This was signed E. G. Bradbury - i.e., Edward G. Bradbury, a brother to William Batchelder Bradbury (1816- 1868), a music editor, composer and conductor who lent his name to the Bradbury piano.

On 10 Jan. 1854 notice appeared in the New York Daily Times of the formation of a new copartnership (consisting of Ferdinand C. Lighte, Henry J. Newton, William B. Bradbury, and Edward G. Bradbury) to manufacture piano-fortes under the name Lighte, Newton & Bradburys. In the same year this firm moved from 22 Canal St. to 421 Broome St. between Broadway and Elm St. (Elm St. ran north from Chambers St. near City Hall to Centre and Spring Sts. It was renamed Elk St. between Chambers and Duane Sts. in 1939, while north of Duane it had been taken over by Lafayette St. in the early 1900s.) (For more on downtown Manhattan street necrology see Kevin Walsh's Forgotten New York.)

In 1858 Henry Newton withdrew from the firm, which was renamed Lighte & Bradburys. By 1864 both Bradburys had split from Lighte, and Wm. B. Bradbury formed his own firm with "mastercraftsman Freeborn G. Smith" (quoting Nancy Groce, Musical Instrument Makers of New York, Pendragon Press, 1991). When Bradbury died in 1868, Freeborn G. Smith took over the William Bradbury Piano Co. and continued to produce the Bradbury pianos.

Freeborn Garrison Smith (1828-1911) was described as follows in his obituary notice in the New York Times 19 Oct. 1911: "Mr. Smith was born eighty-three years ago in a log cabin near Baltimore, Md. When a young man he came to this city and worked as a piano maker. He became associated in business with William B. Bradbury, whose interests he subsequently purchased. Since 1867 Mr. Smith had been the manufacturer of the Bradbury piano, his factories being at Fulton and Adelphi Streets, Brooklyn, and near Leominster, Mass. Several years ago he retired from active business, being succeeded by his son, Freeborn G. Smith, Jr. For many years Mr. Smith was prominent as a Prohibitionist and in church work in Brooklyn. He was several times nominated for office by the Prohibitionists." Freeborn G. Smith had traveled from Maryland to Massachusetts (where he worked for the Chickering Piano Co.) before settling in New York.

The building at 142 5th Ave. (1-5 W. 19th St.) was built in 1898. It was known as the Bradbury Building and housed offices and showrooms of Bradbury Pianos from 1899 to 1915. (Click here for Bradbury / F. G. Smith ad from 1901.)

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