June 15, 1950

Henry Z. Steinway’s memorandum to Steinway & Sons’ Board of Directors includes the proposal for “factory consolidation” (concentrating the piano production in smaller space, and liquidating the unnecessary factories), and also possible alternatives: “to abandon our current quality standards and enter the medium or low-price field”; to merge with another piano company that has better facilities; or to cease piano manufacturing and become a piano dealer instead, selling pianos made by other companies. Also included is the list of possible alternative sites for Steinway & Sons factories – Roosevelt Field in Garden City, Nassau County, New York, or North Carolina. Compared to these options, keeping all operations in one of the existing Steinway & Sons locations is simpler and more cost-effective, and Henry Z. Steinway requests the Board of Directors’ approval to consolidate Steinway & Sons manufacturing on the Riker site, as the most cost-effective solution, acknowledging however that “consolidated factory would not be as ideal as a brand new plant, because of the necessity of conforming our operations to presently existing structures.” (Eventually it will become clear that Henry Z. Steinway is mistaken: setting up a new factory would have cost a lot less in the long run.)