Theodor August Heintzman (birth name Theodore August Heintzmann) (19 May 1817 – 25 July 1899) was a German-Canadian

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

( Heintzman & Co.) and inventor, best known for founding the piano company which still bears his name. Born in Berlin, Heintzman worked in various manufacturing jobs as a youth, eventually settling in at a German piano

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

. In 1840, he married his boss' daughter and, following the lead of her family, immigrated to the United States in 1850. It is believed by the Heintzman family that Theodor immigrated on the same boat as Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, another piano-maker, and the two attempted to start a business in New York City. They soon parted ways, however, with Heintzman taking his family to Buffalo where he started again; Steinweg eventually changed his name to

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

and became a successful piano manufacturer in his own right. In Buffalo, Heintzman worked at Keogh Piano Company (located at what is now Fireman's Park) before he started the a piano forte firm with Francis Drew and Henry Annowsky (1853 as Drew, Heintzman and Annowsky at 10 and Court Street), which he ran until it went under in 1858. From 1858 to 1860 Heintzman ran Western Pianoforte Manufactory Company in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

(founded in 1856 by Charles Thomas). In 1860, Heintzman moved to Toronto, where he constructed his first four pianos in the kitchen of his son-in-law; these sold well, and with the proceeds he was able to found Heintzman & Co., Ltd., setting up his primary warehouse first on Toronto's York Street, soon moving to King Street near Yonge. Heintzman enjoyed a reputation as a grand showman, often performing on his pianos as part of his sales pitch. Of note is that Heintzman took several of his pianos with him on the first trans-Canadian rail trip, which he used both as a means for sale and

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. Heintzman pianos soon grew steadily in reputation, and as a result, Heintzman became a very wealthy man. He and his four adult sons (all of whom were in the family business) settled into

West Toronto Junction West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

which was, at the time, a separate town from Toronto. Heintzman's estate, built in 1889, was called "The Birches", and despite some internal modifications, it still stands on Annette Street, across the street from Annette Street Public School. A

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

's plan to tear it down in the early 1980s sparked a

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

from local citizens, and a compromise was reached wherein the exterior has been restored in the original Queen Anne Revival style. Two of his sons' homes in the area are also still standing: Herman Heintzman's home on High Park Avenue and George Heinztman's house on Woodside Avenue. A larger estate of George's in

Thornhill, Ontario Thornhill is a suburban district in the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canada, split between the City of Vaughan (its western portion) and the City of Markham (its eastern portion), with Yonge Street forming the municipal boundary. Tho ...

is also still standing. The Junction was also home to the primary Heintzman factory prior to the moving of operations to

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

(today, most Heintzman pianos are made in China). Heintzman Street, a short, dead-end road which runs just north of Dundas Street, formerly led to the Junction factory, which in its heyday employed over 200 craftsmen, making it one of the largest Canadian factories of any kind for its time. A nearby

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, which Heintzman and his family attended, bears a

plaque Plaque may refer to: Commemorations or awards * Commemorative plaque, a plate or tablet fixed to a wall to mark an event, person, etc. * Memorial Plaque (medallion), issued to next-of-kin of dead British military personnel after World War I * Pla ...

memorializing Heintzman's contributions to both the Junction and the piano industry. He died in 1899, shortly after the death of his wife.

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