E. K. Blessing is a manufacturer of

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch ...

s and accessories. The company was founded in 1906 by Emil Karl Blessing. Located in

Elkhart, Indiana Elkhart ( ) is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The population was 53,923 at the 2020 census. The city is located east of South Bend, Indiana. It is the most populous city in the Elkhart–Goshen metropolitan area, which in tu ...

, their products include

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

mellophone The mellophone is a brass instrument used in marching bands and drum and bugle corps in place of French horns. It is a middle-voiced instrument, typically pitched in the key of F, though models in E, D, C, and G (as a bugle) have also historica ...

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

s, and mouthpieces for brass instruments.

History

The company's founder was Emil Karl Blessing, Sr. (b Oppelsbohn,

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

24 April 1880; d Elkhart 24 Sept 1954). He immigrated to America in 1896 and came to Elkhart. His first experience in the industry was working for Buescher, and it is said that he helped Gus Buescher design his first piston valves. Blessing worked for the Mennonite Publishing House in 1899 and 1900. He then went to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and in 1903 his name appears on a payroll sheet for Frank Holton. During his early years in the US he also worked for several tool and die firms. In 1906 Blessing returned to Elkhart and began making musical instruments in a small garage. For many years the operation was quite small. By 1926 the operation was officially known as the Emil K. Blessing Company. By 1936 it had become known as the E. K. Blessing Band Instrument Company. In 1940 it had incorporated, and in 1942 the name was changed to the less cumbersome E. K. Blessing Company, Inc. Emil was president of the company up to his death in 1954, and he was succeeded by his son

E. Karl Blessing, Jr. E is the fifth letter of the Latin alphabet. E or e may also refer to: Computing and computation * E (1970s text editor), a text editor developed at the Stanford AI Lab in the 1970s * E (complexity), a set of decision problems solvable by a ...

In 1961 Paul E. Richards merged Blessing with the

Martin Band Instrument Company The Martin Band Instrument Company was a musical instrument manufacturer in Elkhart, Indiana. The firm produced band instruments, including trumpets, cornets, fluegelhorns, trombones, and saxophones from 1908 through the 1960s. The brand was acq ...

and F. A. Reynolds to form the "Roundtable of Music Craftsmen" (RMC). Karl Blessing remained plant manager during the RMC years. The arrangement collapsed in 1964, and Blessing reverted to its previous identity. Merle O. Johnson, who married one of Blessing's daughters, became the new president. For many years Blessing made student line brass instruments and marketed student model saxophones from other manufacturers under their own name. Merle Johnson later sold the company to his son Randy Johnson, and in 2009, Randy sold E. K. Blessing Inc. to Verne Q. Powell Flutes, Inc. In 2010, under the ownership of Verne Q. Powell Flutes Inc., E. K. Blessing has completely redesigned its student trumpets (BTR-1266, BTR-1277), created a new line of intermediate trumpets (BTR-1460) and introduced the first truly professional trumpet made by E. K. Blessing since the 1960s (BTR-1580). In 2015, E. K. Blessing Brass was sold to St. Louis Music. The almost new Elkhart plant was closed and the craftsman laid-off. In 2018, the company was endorsed by Doug Woolverton.

References

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Sources

Elkhart city directories (available Elkhart Public Library)McMakin, Dean "Musical Instrument Manufacturing in Elkhart, Indiana" (unpublished typescript, 1987, available Elkhart Public Library)The Elkhart Truth, Saturday 25 September 1954, obituary of E.K. BlessingInterviews with Blessing employees

External links

company website
Manufacturing companies established in 1906 Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United States Companies based in Elkhart County, Indiana 1906 establishments in Indiana