Hazelton Brothers
Corporate brand
UnclaimedHazelton Brothers is an American piano brand founded in New York in 1850 and continued under successive owners after its original company was acquired.
Last updated August 25, 2026
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Overview
Hazelton Brothers was an American piano-manufacturing company established in New York City in 1850 by Henry, Frederick, and John Hazelton. The firm developed from Henry Hazelton's earlier experience as a piano maker and from the family businesses he had operated or joined in Albany and New York. The enterprise was initially known as F. & H. Hazelton, but adopted the Hazelton Brothers name in 1852 after John became a senior partner. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Hazelton Brothers produced square grand, upright, and grand pianos. It earned a reputation for well-made instruments and competed in the upper segment of the American piano market, including against the substantially larger Steinway & Sons. The company became associated with New York's affluent customers and was recognized for incorporating contemporary technical developments. Its instruments used cast-iron frames and reflected changes in stringing scales, action mechanisms, and cabinet design. In 1855 the company reportedly produced approximately 2,000 pianos, and by 1869 it ranked among the larger piano manufacturers in the United States. The brand's reputation also created imitators. Competing makers used similar-sounding names, including Hazeltine and Hazelman, prompting accusations that such names were intended to confuse buyers. This episode illustrates the commercial value of the Hazelton Brothers name in the nineteenth-century American piano trade. The family remained involved across several generations. Henry Hazelton retired during the 1880s, after which Frederick and John assumed greater control. The company's New York premises were destroyed by fire in 1883, although it also had a second operating factory in Massachusetts. Samuel Hazelton, a nephew of the founders, joined the firm in 1881 and later succeeded his uncles. His son, Halsey Hazelton, became a senior partner alongside him by 1908. In 1900 the company expanded into player pianos, responding to a major development in domestic music consumption. Hazelton Brothers remained an independent family-linked piano concern until 1957, when Kohler & Campbell purchased the organization. Kohler & Campbell continued producing pianos under the Hazelton Brothers name for several decades. In 1985 the brand was transferred to Samick of South Korea. Samick has continued to use the Hazelton Brothers name for pianos, meaning that the brand survives even though the original New York company no longer operates as an independent manufacturer. Historical serial-number references, including listings in the Pierce Piano Atlas, are used by collectors and researchers to identify Hazelton Brothers instruments manufactured between 1858 and 1957.
History
Hazelton Brothers emerged from the nineteenth-century American piano trade, when New York City and other northeastern cities supported a large network of instrument makers, dealers, and specialist craftsmen. Henry Hazelton, born in 1816, apprenticed as a piano maker at Dubois & Stodart between 1831 and 1838. He subsequently joined William Boardman's piano business in Albany and operated an earlier firm known as Hazelton, Lyon, & Talbot from 1840. Accounts differ on the precise timing and circumstances of his move to New York, but the Hazelton family was established there by the time the later company was formed. The business began in 1850 as F. & H. Hazelton, with Frederick and Henry as senior partners. In 1852, after John Hazelton became a senior partner, the company adopted the Hazelton Brothers name. It manufactured several important categories of piano, including square grands, upright instruments, and concert-style grands. During the second half of the century, the firm built a strong reputation for quality and design. Its adoption of cast-iron frames and its work on stringing scales, actions, and cases reflected the industry's movement toward greater structural strength, volume, durability, and expressive control. Hazelton Brothers was smaller than Steinway & Sons but occupied a similar high-quality part of the market. Its customers included wealthy New Yorkers, and the brand's reputation was sufficiently valuable that other manufacturers used deceptively similar names. Names such as Hazeltine and Hazelman were criticized as misleading imitations. The company reportedly made about 2,000 pianos in 1855 and ranked sixteenth among American piano manufacturers by 1869, indicating a substantial though not dominant position in the rapidly expanding industry. The business suffered a major physical setback in 1883 when its New York premises were destroyed by fire. It was able to continue through a second factory in Massachusetts. Family succession also shaped the company's later history. Henry retired during the 1880s, leaving Frederick and John to manage the enterprise. Samuel Hazelton, a nephew of the founders who had entered the firm in 1881, eventually took over after his uncles retired. His son Halsey joined him and was a senior partner by 1908. This succession preserved the company's family identity into the twentieth century. In 1900 Hazelton Brothers added player pianos. The move reflected the growing popularity of mechanically reproduced music in American homes and broadened the company's product portfolio beyond conventional acoustic pianos. The firm continued making pianos under its own control until 1957, when Kohler & Campbell acquired the organization. The buyer retained the Hazelton Brothers name and continued producing instruments branded with it. In 1985 the name was sold to Samick, the South Korean piano manufacturer. Samick continued to make pianos using the Hazelton Brothers designation. Thus, Hazelton Brothers has two overlapping identities: it is a historical American manufacturer whose principal independent production period ended in 1957, and it is a surviving piano brand maintained by later owners. Instruments made during the 1858–1957 period are documented through serial-number references such as the Pierce Piano Atlas, which supports dating and identification by collectors, restorers, and historians.
- 1985
Acquired by Samick
[1]The Hazelton Brothers name passes from Kohler & Campbell to Samick of South Korea.
- 1957
Acquired by Kohler & Campbell
[1]Kohler & Campbell purchases the organization and retains the Hazelton Brothers name in piano production.
- 1900
Player pianos added
[1]Hazelton Brothers expands into player pianos as automated home music becomes an important product category.
- 1883
New York factory destroyed by fire
[1]A fire destroys the company's New York premises, while a Massachusetts factory provides continuing production capacity.
- 1869
Ranks among major American piano makers
[1]Hazelton Brothers is identified as the sixteenth-largest piano manufacturing company in the United States.
- 1855
Reported production reaches about 2,000 pianos
[1]The company is reported to have manufactured approximately 2,000 pianos during the year.
- 1852
Hazelton Brothers name adopted
[1]John Hazelton becomes a senior partner and the firm changes its name to Hazelton Brothers.
- 1850
F. & H. Hazelton is founded
[1]Henry and Frederick Hazelton establish the piano business in New York, creating the company that would become Hazelton Brothers.
Products and positioning
Historically positioned as a quality American piano maker serving the upper end of the nineteenth-century market, with a reputation strong enough to compete with larger firms such as Steinway & Sons. Under later ownership, Hazelton Brothers functions primarily as a continuing heritage piano brand.
Acoustic pianos
Square grand pianos
Square grand pianos were among Hazelton Brothers' principal nineteenth-century products. This historically important form used a compact rectangular case while retaining a horizontal string layout. Hazelton Brothers' square grands were part of the company's broader effort to serve customers seeking finely made domestic and salon instruments before the modern upright and grand formats became dominant.
Acoustic pianos
Upright pianos
Hazelton Brothers produced upright pianos for domestic and institutional use. Uprights placed the strings vertically to reduce floor space compared with horizontal grands, making them suitable for urban homes while still reflecting the firm's emphasis on cabinet design, action engineering, and construction quality.
Acoustic pianos
Grand pianos
Grand pianos represented Hazelton Brothers' higher-end acoustic offering. The company was regarded as a smaller competitor to Steinway & Sons in the premium American market, and its grand instruments contributed to the brand's association with affluent nineteenth-century New York customers and professional musical performance.
Mechanical pianos · 1900
Player pianos
Hazelton Brothers entered the player-piano segment in 1900. These instruments combined a conventional piano with a mechanism for reproducing music from perforated rolls, allowing households to hear automatically performed pieces. The line broadened the company's business as player pianos became increasingly popular in the early twentieth century.
Brand decisions
1985
Transfer of the brand to SamickM&ABackground
Kohler & Campbell had controlled the Hazelton Brothers name since 1957.
Action taken
The name was sold to Samick of South Korea.
Aftermath
Samick continued using Hazelton Brothers as a piano brand, extending the name beyond its original American manufacturing company.
1957
Sale to Kohler & CampbellM&ABackground
After more than a century as an independent or family-managed piano business, Hazelton Brothers entered a new ownership phase.
Action taken
Kohler & Campbell purchased the organization and continued manufacturing pianos under the Hazelton Brothers name.
Aftermath
The original company ceased to operate independently, but its brand identity remained in piano production.
1900
Entry into player pianosProduct launchBackground
The company expanded beyond conventional acoustic piano formats at a time when mechanically reproduced home music was gaining popularity.
Action taken
Hazelton Brothers added player pianos to its portfolio of square grands, uprights, and grands.
Aftermath
The move gave the company a presence in an important early-twentieth-century product category, although the available reference material does not quantify its commercial impact.
Sources4 sources
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