Downright Upright, A History of the Canadian Piano Industry, Wayne Kelly,
Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc., 1991, pg.
113: "C.W. Lindsay & Company--Montreal,
1877- c. 1950. A large Montreal piano dealer,
Lindsay acquired the Quebec distribution rights for
Heintzman (1883), Nordheimer,(1897),
Martin-Orme (1909), and Foisy (1914) among
others. Instruments bearing the Lindsay name
were manufactured by Lesage and Craig, c.1903-42."
"C.W. Lindsay & Co. Retail chain selling pianos,
phonographs, and sheet music. The enterprise originated in
1877, when Charles William Lindsay (b Montreal 6 Apr 1856,
d there 7 Nov 1939), who had been blind since adolescence,
returned from Boston after studying piano tuning and
repair at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. He started
practising his trade but soon began to sell reconditioned
pianos. He became the agent for Heintzman in 1883 and then
obtained contracts with two Boston companies, Miller and,
in 1896, Chickering. Lindsay bought the local branch of A.
& S. Nordheimer in 1897, De Zouche & Atwater of
Montreal some time afterwards, and C.A. McNee of Ottawa in
1905. In 1902 the business became a limited liability
company, and Lindsay built his own seven-storey building
on Ste-Catherine St West. He bought out other enterprises:
part of Orme & Son of Ottawa (1909), Cordingly of
Brockville, Ont (1910), the Montreal branch of Nordheimer
Piano & Music Co (1911), Foisy Frères of Montreal
(1914), Riggs of Belleville, Ont (1916), and in 1917 J.-A.
Hurteau and the Compagnie générale des phonographes de
Montréal. In 1915 he also had built a five-storey building
in Quebec City on the corner of St-Jean and St-Eustache
streets, managed by C. A. Hurteau. In 1928 C.W. Lindsay
& Co Ltd was reorganized as a public company with its
shares listed on the stock exchange, and the founder sold
his shares and withdrew from the business. J.-A. Hébert
became president and general manager.
"Besides selling player-piano rolls, phonographs, sheet
music, and records, the Lindsay Co bought pianos,
particularly those manufactured by Lesage and Craig, and
sold them under its own name. The Woodhouse department
store in Montreal bought out C.W. Lindsay & Co in 1944
and gradually acquired the different branches by the
1950s. An advertisement dated 1947 mentions three stores
in Montreal as well as branches in Kingston and Ottawa,
Ont, and in Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, and Verdun, Que.
"C.W. Lindsay was made a KBE in 1935. Sir Charles was a
philanthropist who generously supported hospitals and
charitable organizations. He also created prizes for
musical achievement, in particular an annual scholarship
of $100 (1928-after 1944) given by the Ladies' Morning
Musical Club. In 1932 a street in Montreal was named in
his honour."
The Canadian Encyclopedia © 2010 Historica Foundation of Canada, article by Gilles Potvin.
Montreal Star, October 4, 1924 page 2:
Montreal Gazette, Sep 9, 1929 page 4:
Ottawa Citizen, Nov. 4, 1929 page 2:
Montreal Gazette, Nov. 1, 1927, pg. 11:
Details from the above:
A Lindsay phonograph for sale on FB Marketplace in February 2023.
An oak console Lindsay phonograph for sale in Ottawa, Ontario in 2024.
Modern photographs of the C.W. Lindsay & Co. Limited factory and sign.
Needle tins KW collection:
