- Steinway & Sons introduces the Model M, a 5-feet 6-inches grand piano, designed by Henry L. Ziegler. 900 Model M pianos are sold within one year, for $750 each. (Model M grand piano will be Steinway & Sons bestselling product through the rest of the XXth century.)
- An old Boston organ-making company Mason & Hamlin unexpectedly emerges as Steinway & Sons main competitor. Financed by the Cable Company of Chicago, Mason & Hamlin begins to build several hundred excellent grand pianos per year. (In the early 1990s, an ex-Steinway & Sons president Lloyd Meyer will resurrect Mason & Hamlin.)
- Steinway Pianofabrik in Hamburg brings $200,000 profit.