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

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

( 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 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. Th ...

. 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 Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, anglicized name Henry Engelhard Steinway, (February 22, 1797 – February 7, 1871)B ...

, 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 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

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(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 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

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

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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. The western portion of Thornhill is within the City of Vaughan and its eastern portion is within the City of Markham, Ontario, Markham, with Yonge Street ...

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

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

(today, most Heintzman pianos are made in China). Heintzman Street, a short, dead-end road which runs just north of

Dundas Street Dundas Street () is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western Greater Toronto Area, suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways—Ontario Highway 2 ...

, 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 a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

, which Heintzman and his family attended, bears a

plaque Plaque may refer to: Commemorations or awards * Commemorative plaque, a plate, usually fixed to a wall or other vertical surface, meant to mark an event, person, etc. * Memorial Plaque (medallion), issued to next-of-kin of dead British military p ...

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

See also

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Further reading