Frank Holton Company
Manufacturer of musical instruments, Elkhorn, Wis.; Holton is the oldest continually operating wind instrument company in the United States. Frank Holton, formerly the first trombonist in John Phillip Sousa's band, opened an instrument shop in Chicago in 1898. His initial success came from a formula for trombone slide-oil, but he soon began experimenting with instrument design. The company continued to expand, producing several models of brasswinds, as well as percussion instruments, and in 1917, Holton moved his company to Elkorn, Wis. In 1964, the Holton Co. was bought by Leblanc, a division of Conn-Selmer, which is itself a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. View a 1920 booklet that describes the company's history, the layout of the factory, and the instruments it produced, at Turning Points in Wisconsin History. The Wisconsin Historical Society does not own the company archives and so cannot answer questions about specific models of instruments.
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