Willis & Company Ltd.
1884 - 1979
ActiveSte-Thérèse/Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Founded inMontréal, Quebec, Canada
BiographyWillis & Company Ltd. was founded in 1884 in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, first as a retailer of sewing machines, by Alexander Parker Willis (1845 – 1934), a native of Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1887, the firm entered into the piano and organ trade, exclusively dealing instruments from other Canadian manufacturers as well as Knabe & Co. from Baltimore, Maryland, and Emerson from Boston, Massachusetts. In 1900, Willis acquired the majority of Lesage & Fils, a reputable Quebecois piano manufacturer based in Ste-Thérèse; Lesage’s factory became the venue in which Willis would begin to manufacture their own instruments. By the end of the first decade of the century, the company had sold several thousand units, including many under the Willis & Company moniker. Throughout the years, Willis would also come to represent and distribute instruments from the Newcombe Piano Co., Dominion Organs, Cecilian (Detroit), Cable Company (Chicago), Ampico player, and Chickering (Boston) brands. Their retail efforts expanded considerably between 1910 and 1925, with showrooms emerging across Canada, in addition to the establishment of headquarters at Drummond Street and Ste-Catherine Street West in Montreal. The firm’s first grand piano was constructed in 1925, with manufacturing of the model continuing over three decades following. Production began to wane in the late 1960s due to an increase in overseas competition, with the family selling the name in 1967. By 1979, bankruptcy was declared and operations ceased. In addition to manufacturers such as Heintzman, Lesage, Mason & Risch, and Sherlock Manning, Willis maintained a reputation as one of the premier Canadian piano manufacturers throughout the first half of the twentieth century.
