1909

  • Steinway & Sons builds 3,700 pianos – the company’s piano production has grown simultaneously with the growth of the United States economy.
  • Charles H. Steinway sends his employee Theodore Ehrlich to Hamburg, to facilitate the resolution of an ongoing strike, and to help with accounting. (Theodore Ehrlich will remain in Germany until the end of the Great War.)
  • Charles H. Steinway also sends to Germany his cousin William R. Steinway, granting him the title of the European general manager of Steinway & Sons. William R. Steinway is reluctant to stay in Hamburg, but changes his mind after Charles Steinway has introduced him to Marie Kiesler, a young, pretty courtesan, born in the village of Stallupönen, Pomerania.
  • Theodore E. Steinway participates in the Amateur Comedy Club’s production of “The Student Prince”, where he meets Ruth Gardner Davis, the co-founder of the recently formed women’s acting company “The Sharks”. (Theodore E. Steinway and Ruth G. Davis will eventually be married.)