October 16, 1860

Charles Steinway writes to his brother C.F. Theodor: “As you can see from accompanying papers, we had an opening ceremony for our new factory. And let me tell you, it was a grand affair and was immensely useful for us. Editors of about sixty to eighty newspapers were invited for refreshments, a visit to the factory and champaigne. Four of our best pianists were also invited to play. After the entire group had first been treated to marinated oysters, poultry, champaigne, etc., the factory was visited. The machinery was running full speed and every worker was at his place… After the tour people returned to the champaigne and, of course, speechmaking. Everyone was so enthusiastic that we got long laudatory reports in almost every paper. That made our name immensely well-known. This is special since most of these newspapers don’t mention these private affairs.”