references to the McDonnell Piano Company in The Music Trade Review
CHICAGO, ILL., 1904, May 11.
John McDonnell, of Ellsworth, Kan., is spending several days in Chicago.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1905, March 15.
Among the visiting dealers the past week were: F. Haseman, Paris, Ill.; N. S. Baber, Paris, Ill., who is also
opening a branch at Mattoon; John McDonald, Ellsworth, Kan.; J. H. Rehm, manager for R. S. Field, Ottumwa,
Ia.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1906, November 14.
John McDonnell, the well-known piano dealer of Kansas City, Kan., and U. L. Means, who has stores at Sterling
and Winfield, Kan., have consolidated their business interests, and will organize the McDonnell-Means Piano Co.
All three stores will be continued by the new company, and Messrs. McDonnell and Means will both make their
headquarters at Kansas City, Kan. They also intend adding talking machines in a retail way at once, and will
probably become jobbers in this line the first of the year.
NEW YORK, 1907, August 17.
John McDonnell has opened a handsome piano store in Kansas City, Mo., and has a carload of Cable-Nelson
pianos in stock.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1907, November 6.
John McDonnell, who recently withdrew from the McDonnell-Means Piano Co., and opened for himself at 1232
Main street, Kansas City, Mo., is having a nice trade on Cable-Nelson.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1908, September 1.
Among the visiting dealers the past week were M. Earl Clark, of Monroe, Wis., and John McDonnell, of Kansas
City, Kans.
NEW YORK, 1910, November 26.
The Butler & Son Piano Co. have taken over the business of the McDonnell Piano Co., 710 Minnesota avenue,
Kansas City, Kan. The stock in the McDonnell store is now being closed out at special sale.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1911, July 12.
John McDonald, of Kansas City, Kan., is in the city on his way to Canada, where he will spend a week or so
visiting relatives.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1912, August 20.
John McDonald, Cable-Nelson dealer of Kansas City, visited the company's offices in Chicago this week en
route to Canada, where he goes to spend his vacation.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1914, February 17.
John McDonnell, of the McDonnell Piano Co., Kansas City, Kan., was a visitor to the headquarters of the
Cable-Nelson Piano Co.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1914, August 10.
F. L. Mooney, formerly with the Frazier-Lo Bello Music Co., and E. B. Segerstrom, formerly with the Segerstrom
Piano Manufacturing Co., have organized the Mooney Music Co., in this city. The new company has purchased
the stock of the McDonnell Piano Co., and the good will of the Frazier-Lo Bello Music Co., and will make its
headquarters at 1222 Grand avenue, where a representative line of instruments will be handled. The McDonnell
Piano Co. will continue to operate its store in Kansas City, Kan.
NEW YORK, 1914, November 28.
The McDonnell-Segerstrom Piano Co., of Kansas City, Mo., has been incorporated with capital stock of
$10,000. The incorporators are John McDonnell and Francis L. Monney [should be Frances L. Mooney].
CHICAGO, ILL., 1915, October 11.
Among visiting dealers were: F. Lehmann, East St. Louis; John McDonald, Kansas City, Mo.; Mr. Middleton,
of L. B. Middleton &Sons, Eagle Grove, Ia.; T. F. Franey, Plymouth, Wis.; A. H. Fitch, Arkansas City, Kan.;
D. E. Wells, Hoopeston, Ill.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1915, December 13.
John McDonnell, of the McDonnell Piano Co., Kansas City, Kan., has returned from a successful business trip in
the western part of the State. The McDonnell Piano Co. last week sold a fine Cable & Nelson player-piano to one
of the principals of the Kansas City high schools.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, May 29.
The McDonald Piano Co., 630 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kan., has taken over the lease and line of pianos
formerly handled by the Mooney Music Co., at 1222 Grand avenaue, and will conduct the business. In addition
to carrying the same line of instruments, the McDonald Co. will also have the Columbia and Edison Diamond
Disc talking machines. Miss Frances Mooney, proprietor of the Mooney Music Co., has opened a store at 125
West Eleventh street, where she will carry a line of players and pianos not yet announced.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, July 10.
John McDonnell, who recently opened his new store on Grand avenue, is very well pleased with the returns. Mr.
McDonnell has been trying to educate the people to the point where they may expect a bargain at his store. He
believes he has succeeded so far.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, July 18.
John McDonnell, who has established a second store in Kansas City, Mo., spends most of his time in his
original store, in Kansas City, Kan.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, July 25.
John McDonnell, with a store in Kansas City, Mo., and another in Kansas City, Kan., is considering the project
of moving all his stock to the Missouri side. However, Mr. McDonnell's fondness for Kansas is well known, and it
is considered doubtful if he could tear himself away from the place where he has been in business for so many
years, especially since Kansas City, Kan., seems to be improving as a trade center right along.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, August 12.
John McDonnell, 1222 Grand avenue, is beginning to do some serious thinking. Six weeks from date Mr.
McDonnell will have to be out of his present location. The building is to be torn down and a larger and better one
built. As yet Mr. McDonnell has made no arrangements for moving, although he is holding a sacrifice sale.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, September 11.
The building in which John McDonnell has his Kansas City, Mo., store, will be remodeled next month; Mr.
McDonnell will seek new quarters before October 1. It is possible that he may return to the present location after
the improvements are made. It will be a two-story building, with terra cotta front, and is in a desirable location.
The company has been holding a sacrifice sale with excellent results, although the removal feature has not been
exploited. Mr. McDonnell is rather punctilious as to honesty in advertising, and the chance that he may later again
occupy the same location deters him from advertising a removal. Mr. McDonnell has recently moved his Kansas
City, Kan., store from 630 to 712 Minnesota avenue. The new store is larger, and in a better building, than the
old one, and has a fine large display window. It is opposite the post office, and in perhaps the best developed
business block in the city, in the western district towards which high class business is more and more tending.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, September 18.
The McDonnell Music Co. has secured the contract to supply the school system of Kansas City, Kan., with
pianos during the coming winter season. The McDonnell Co. had this contract last year also. By the terms of the
contract the pianos are rented to the schools for an agreed sum during the winter course. Several of the buildings
were remodeled this summer, and as a result Mr. McDonnell was forced to take the pianos out. He has installed
over twelve pianos in the schools this year.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, September 25.
The McDonnell Music Co., is still making minor adjustments of stock in its new quarters in Kansas City, Kan., for
the most effective displays, and expects a considerable increase of business in the new location.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, October 9
The J. McDonnell Music Co., formerly at 1222 Grand avenue, has recently moved to 1125 McGee street. The
lease on the former building ran out October 2, and the old building is to be torn down and a new one erected
soon. The McDonnell Co. will return to the new building if the terms are suitable. Mr. McDonnell, president of the
company, is now on a trip to southern Canada. He will visit in Chicago on his way back to Kansas City.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1916, October 10
John McDonald, the well-known piano dealer of Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., is a visitor this week.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, October 16.
John McDonnell, of the McDonnell Piano Co., has just returned from a trip through southern Canada by way of
Chicago, and says he had a good time as well as a successful business trip. The new quarters in the Argyle
Building at Twelfth and McGee streets, are undergoing complete redecoration. The store had one entrance on
McGee street, and Mr. McDonnell is now putting in a new entrance on Twelfth street. This will be a great
advantage for the company, as many street car lines run on Twelfth, and it is a more populous thoroughfare than
McGee.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, November 13.
The McDonald Piano Co. has recently made another entrance to its store, which leads to Twelfth street, the other
entrance being on McGee street. Mr. Berry, manager of the store, reports that he hopes to "catch the people
coming and going" with the two entrances.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1916, December 18.
W. R. Berry, well-known in the piano business in the Kansas City section, and for the past year manager of the
McDonnell Piano Co. in Kansas City, Mo., is now connected with the Smith, Barnes & Strohber Piano Co. here,
of which T. E. Johnson is the manager. Mr. Berry is an old hand in the game, having been in the business for
himself for a number of years in Kansas City, and is thoroughly acquainted with the ins and outs of the trade.
E. B. Segerstrom, formerly with the Chase & Baker Piano Co., and more recently having had charge of the sale
of the stock of the old Mooney Piano Co., which failed about a year ago, is now with the McDonnell Piano Co.
John McDonnell, proprietor of the McDonnell Piano Co., with houses in this city and Kansas City, Kan., has just
left for a week's business trip in Utah, where he is interested in closing a deal on a ranch on which he already
has a mortgage.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1917, March 27.
Emil Segerstrom, formerly manager of the McDonnell Piano Co., has resigned. The McDonnell Piano Co., on
the Kansas side, has been discontinued, the stock now being combined with that of the McDonnell Piano Co. in
Kansas City, Mo.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1917, May 29.
John McDonnell, whose place is on McGee street, made nice sales last week. One of them was a high class
player, another a good piano, the sales being well divided between the well-to-do customers and the wage-earners.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1918, April 15.
John McDonnell, having closed his Kansas City, Mo., store, is continuing his retail business from Kansas City,
Kan., headquarters on Minnesota avenue, but finds it frequently necessary to make deliveries to Kansas City, Mo.
He still has many friends on the Missouri side of the State line, and continues his occasional solicitation of their
piano purchases. When street car service is normal his present store is not much farther by time from residence
districts of either city than the downtown district of Kansas City, Mo. At present, however, the service is not as
fast as it will be in a few months, when new viaducts will be opened, and when the traffic between the two cities
is increased, with better facilities. The Kansas City, Kan., merchantwho is alivehas a community of about half
a million to draw from, quite as truly as the merchants in the larger city.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1919, January 6.
The McDonnell Music Co., Kansas City, Kan., had a most wonderful holiday season. Practically every instrument
in stock was sold. One of the principle stimulating factors in their trade was the street car strike. Inter-city street
car service was very limited, and it was practically impossible for the people on the Kansas side to come to
Missouri for shopping. This fact was a great stimulus to all lines of business on the Kansas side. John McDonnell,
of the McDonnell Music Co., together with several other business men, is interested in a proposition to establish
a manufacturing plant for talking machines. He will call his machine "The Donola." During the holiday trade Mr.
McDonnell took in several organs in exchange on talking machines and pianos. While organs are generally
considered an instrument of the past, yet it is not difficult to move them. Mr. McDonnell finds ample market for his
second-hand organs and they sell at a margin fair enough to allow him to handle them at a profit.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1919, May 10.
J. C. McDonnell, who recently closed his store in Kansas City, Kans., to open his new establishment in Kansas
City, Mo., at 1217 Grand avenue, has placed a complete stock of Cable-Nelson pianos in his sales parlors. Mr.
McDonnell is particularly pushing the phonographs, and has placed on the market the "Donola."
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1919, July 11.
J. C. McDonnell, proprietor of the McDonnell Music Co., at 1217 Grand avenue, recently said: "Business has
been exceedingly good during the past month and I attribute a great deal of the success of the month to the fact
that I have secured a nice quantity of business from Kansas City, Kan." Mr. McDonnell for many years was
engaged in the piano business in that city and only recently moved his establishment to the Missouri side of the
river. The two cities are connected by trolley and elevated lines.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1919, July 28.
The J. C. McDonnell Music Co., is continuing the work upon its store at 1217 Grand avenue. The company
began the assembling of its machine, the Donola, and installed a line of Cable-Nelson pianos and players, but
was so busy with the new machine that the work of completing the sales floor and the demonstrating booths was
neglected. The interior of the establishment has now been completely arranged and is being done in white
enamel, giving the store a neat, cool and attractive appearance.
CHICAGO, ILL., 1919, August 5.
John McDonald, of Kansas City, Mo.; S. S. Oakford, of Omaha, Neb.; Frank Howard, of J. W. Jenkins' Sons
Music Co., of Kansas City, Mo., and H. Beck, of Carthage, Mo., were visiting merchants in the city last week.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1919, August 25.
William R. Berry, who for some time was manager of the J. C. McDonnell Music Co., at 1217 Grand avenue,
recently resigned his position there.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1919, September 22.
John McDonnell, of the McDonnell Music Co., declares that the trade has been exceptionally good during the
past few weeks. The carload which he had long been expecting finally arrived, having been on the road
approximately thirty days.
KANSAS CITY, MO., 1920, March 23.
The John McDonnell Music Co. is devoting almost its entire attention to the new Donola talking machine which
the company lately begin to assemble. Mr. McDonnell, however, continues to devote his attention to the piano
business.
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