Jonas Chickering founded his piano manufacturing business in 1823, and by the time of his death in 1853, it had become the largest and most prestigious piano maker in the United States. Chickering hired Alpheus Babcock in 1837, and soon thereafter adapted Babcock’s invention, the one piece cast iron frame, later patenting a version for the grand piano. By the 1850s, Chickering’s production had risen to 1500 per year, of which the vast majority were square pianos, along with about one grand piano per week.
Chickering had begun exhibiting in Europe at the expositions in Paris and London, and was influenced by European designs to a large extent, but included American innovations.
