Starr Piano Company

George Trayser and Milo J. Chase started the Trayser Piano Forte Company in a building near the Ohio River in Ripley, Ohio, with Chase as the president and manager. In 1872, the company moved to Richmond, Indiana, after receiving financial help from James Starr and Richard Jackson, both residents of Richmond. When Trayser retired six years later, the company was renamed Chase Piano Company, Starr became president and Jackson secretary-treasurer. In the 1880s Chase moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to establish his own piano factory, leaving the Richmond operation to be renamed James Starr and Company, with James Starr as president and his brother Benjamin the manager.One of the retailers that sold Starr pianos was the Jesse French Piano & Organ Company in St. Louis. Two employees of that company, John Lumsden and his son-in-law Henry Gennett, pursued a merger with Starr in 1892 which took place during the following year. Lumsden and Gennett owned half the company after that. After Lumsden died and James Starr retired, Gennett became president. By 1900, control of the company had passed from the Starr family to the Gennett: Henry (president) and his sons Harry (vice president), Clarence (treasurer), and Fred (secretary).

In the 1890s, pianos were so popular in America that one hundred companies were making them. Between 1893 and 1949 Starr produced nearly a dozen brands, including Trayser, Duchess, Richmond, Remington, and Royal, and bought other piano companies like Krell in 1927. In 1915, 250 companies were making pianos, 75 percent from 25 companies that including Starr, Baldwin, and Wurlitzer. For its craftsmanship, Starr won awards at the Chicago's World Fair (1893), St. Louis World's Fair (1904), Tennessee Centennial Exposition (1907), Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition (1909), and the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (1915). Starr sold fifty styles that included a baby grand piano (the Minum), a four-foot tall model designed for apartments (the Princess), and player pianos.

By 1904, Starr had showrooms in Dayton, Piqua, Toledo, and Cleveland, Ohio. By 1915, Starr had retail stores in major cities such Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; and San Diego and Los Angeles, California while Jesse French chain stores carried Starr pianos in their South and Southwest stores. The company had a showroom inside the Nashville Jesse French Piano Building at 240–242 Fifth Street North. An Indianapolis store was located at 138 and 140 Pennsylvania Street in the heart of Indy's piano district. The store carried Starr, Richmond and Remington pianos and retailed Knabe pianos and Cecillian self-player's manufactured by the Farrand Organ Company of Detroit. On December 27, 1920, the Indianapolis retail store moved to 49-53 Monument Circle next to the Hilbert Circle Theatre and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.