Harwood mandolins and guitars

[brunello97]

Here are some images of my Harwood, serial number 30852. Do the serial numbers offer any clue as to date/location of building?

A pretty modest example but I would love to hear some thoughts from the Harwoodists.

thanks,

Mick

[KanMando]

Wear out you welcome? Bob, this kind of thread is exactly why I spend so much time here

Thanks for checking in the catalog. My bowl has the familar Harwood 'scroll w pediment' headstock rather than the flat end you describe with the No. 40. Sorry about the lack of pictures, I'll get some up asap. It is a fairly modest model and there are some serious top cracks that my limited repair skills will be challenged to address. But I am growing more antsy about getting to hear how it sounds.

A dedicated Harwood website sounds great, but by all means keep this thread alive with your research and discussion. Harwood seems to have a history that cuts across a wide swath of design, construction, outsourcing, labeling and marketing practices of stringed instruments in this era. (Not to even mention the playing..) A really fascinating story enfolding.

Mick

The Harwoods are really just part of a much bigger story, that being the story of the Jenkins Music Company and my great-grandfather, John W. Jenkins II, the son of the founder. Too much to go into here, but when I get my Harwood site up, I intend to include a history of the Jenkins Co. Let me just say that in the pre-phonograph, pre-radio, pre-tv, days of the late 19th century and early 20th century, the music industry in the U.S. was huge. At the time of the economic collapse in 1929, there were over 300 American piano manufacturers. Every small town had a brass band. There were mandolin and guitar clubs everywhere. Sheet music publishing was thriving and very competitive, to the point of being cut-throat, and the Jenkins Company was right in the middle of all this. It's a fascinating era.

Bob

[KanMando]

There are no guitars or mandolins with "Harwood" on the headstock shown in the 1895 catalog. My personal opinion is that these instruments were probably made later, at least after 1902. None of the instruments shown in the famous Payne photo from 1902 has this logo. Bill Graham has a guitar and a mandolin with logo headstocks, and they bear all the construction characteristics of the Kansas City made instruments, so there is no reason to suspect they were made elsewhere. As Bill mentioned in the Fretboard Journal article, the addition of the logo to the headstock may have been a response to the Gibson instruments and their growing popularity.

[KanMando]

The Fretboard Journey article quotes an old article that claimed that Harwood was producing 5000 instruments a year. Given the scarcity of Harwood instruments does that number sound plausible? That would make their production greater than Martin who never produced 5000 instruments a year until the late 40's.

I agree, 5000 instruments a year seems implausible. Unfortunately, we have not found any records to confirm or refute that number. The article that made that statement was a Kansas City business journal, and could certainly contain a bit of local boosterism. The original article had etchings showing scenes from the factory - and a later article, which was essentially the same, has actual photographs of the factory. There were a lot of instruments being made there. They employed 25 people. Let's assume there was a five day work week (may have been 6 days back then) . That's 260 work days a year. That would come to about 20 instruments a day. The factory was highly mechanized, so I guess that figure isn't too unreasonable.

And yes, the scarcity of Harwoods is puzzling. They were well made, high quality instruments. Where did they all go? The business journal article states that the Harwoods were being shipped "to all countries". Maybe there's an undiscovered trove overseas.

Bob

Bob

[HarHolz]

re: harwood guitars

thanks to bob jenkins for his impressive efforts, and to bob graham for his fretboard article.

some questions and observations:

is anyone compiling a list of serial numbers of datable harwood guitars (or mandolins)? i note on a different website (unique guitars), one blogger A.S. Jackson, notes he has a photo dating from 1898/99 of a relative playing a Harwood NY #5 with a 7566 serial number. more of these kind of postings would help begin to figure out the absolute and especially the relative dating of the instruments. does anyone else have any dated photographs of harwood instruments with known serial numbers. until the ever elusive sales or shipping receipt of a harwood instrument turns up, this might prove a good method of general dating.

--does anyone know whether the KC (and/or Boston) "Harwood New York" numbered their mandolins, guitars (and other [stringed] instruments) in discrete numerical sequences, or intermingled the various types of instruments in one continuous sequence for all instruments?

re: the white celluloid labels. i recently purchased a harwood ny parlor guitar (serial number 10351). on the HARWOOD white celluloid inset at the uppermost fret there is in very tiny type the words "BALDWIN & GLEASON LIMITED NY PAT". this is nearly impossible to read, and directly on the lower edge of the white 'label.' this appears to refer to the company that made these signature white labels.... as they were a NY engraving company active between ca. 1860 & 1900 (-ish), producing political buttons, and fine engraved printing for a range of purposes (or so a preliminary google search suggests). -- i guess one could ask how long this company supplied Harwood (or Jenkins) with these signature labels? did Harwood have a large supply on hand and continue to apply them even after Baldwin & Gleason folded? Might this also provide a clue to Harwood in KC's New York connection?

also: as for the 5000 instrument per year claim. does anyone know if this included stringed instruments only? wasn't harwood (in KC) making Saxophones and Trombones, and other non-string band instruments as well. Any sense of the percentage of each instruments they produced when?

HarHolz

[brunello97]

…. At the time of the economic collapse in 1929, there were over 300 American piano manufacturers. Every small town had a brass band. There were mandolin and guitar clubs everywhere. Sheet music publishing was thriving and very competitive, to the point of being cut-throat, and the Jenkins Company was right in the middle of all this. It's a fascinating era.

Bob

Bob, I loved the Fretboard Journal article (and in particular the great photography.) I dig what you are saying about the pervasiveness of live, community music. Just a fraction of the band shells, gazebos etc. that were built for these musicians on village greens, parks etc. must still remain. How often are they used for music? Always a pleasure for me to listen to if they are playing Sousa or Bach.

I'm with HarHolz (love the German-o-pun.) This Harwood investigation is just beginning. Is there an image + serial number data base in the works? Maybe it will have to be this thread for awhile…

Harholz, I know this is a mandolin cafe, but why not post some images of your Harwood guitar here as well?

thanks!

Mick

[KanMando]

re: harwood guitars

thanks to bob jenkins for his impressive efforts, and to bob graham for his fretboard article.

some questions and observations:

is anyone compiling a list of serial numbers of datable harwood guitars (or mandolins)? i note on a different website (unique guitars), one blogger A.S. Jackson, notes he has a photo dating from 1898/99 of a relative playing a Harwood NY #5 with a 7566 serial number. more of these kind of postings would help begin to figure out the absolute and especially the relative dating of the instruments. does anyone else have any dated photographs of harwood instruments with known serial numbers. until the ever elusive sales or shipping receipt of a harwood instrument turns up, this might prove a good method of general dating.

--does anyone know whether the KC (and/or Boston) "Harwood New York" numbered their mandolins, guitars (and other [stringed] instruments) in discrete numerical sequences, or intermingled the various types of instruments in one continuous sequence for all instruments?

re: the white celluloid labels. i recently purchased a harwood ny parlor guitar (serial number 10351). on the HARWOOD white celluloid inset at the uppermost fret there is in very tiny type the words "BALDWIN & GLEASON LIMITED NY PAT". this is nearly impossible to read, and directly on the lower edge of the white 'label.' this appears to refer to the company that made these signature white labels.... as they were a NY engraving company active between ca. 1860 & 1900 (-ish), producing political buttons, and fine engraved printing for a range of purposes (or so a preliminary google search suggests). -- i guess one could ask how long this company supplied Harwood (or Jenkins) with these signature labels? did Harwood have a large supply on hand and continue to apply them even after Baldwin & Gleason folded? Might this also provide a clue to Harwood in KC's New York connection?

also: as for the 5000 instrument per year claim. does anyone know if this included stringed instruments only? wasn't harwood (in KC) making Saxophones and Trombones, and other non-string band instruments as well. Any sense of the percentage of each instruments they produced when?

HarHolz

Ever since I started researching the Harwood instruments, I've been collecting photos and serial numbers. Most of these are from ebay sales. I don't know what the copyright issues might be on using these images. I might be limited to a written description with the serial number. Let me just say that all the guitars we've seen on ebay are parlor guitars, with the exception of my own concert size guitar. Even so, we have a pretty small number of instruments for the database - maybe 20. In the abscence of any manufacturing, shipping, or sales records, we have no definitive way to date the instruments. We can approximate the dates from old photographs like the Payne photos and my 1895 catalog, but that's about all we have now.

We don't know if the serial numbers were mingled among the various instruments. You and I have instruments that may have been made on the same day. My No. 6 concert guitar is s.n. 10353, and your guitar is s.n. 10351. Please post some photos. I could not see any text anywhere on the Harwood inlay on the fretboard of my guitar. It's so interesting that you dug up this tidbit of information. Jenkins certainly had New York connections and we know that John Jenkins II and his brothers made frequent business trips there. New York was by far the hotbed of piano manufacturing in the U.S.

Again, we don't really know if the Kansas City Harwood factory actually produced 5000 instruments a year, but if they did, it was only guitars, mandolins, harp guitars, mandolinettos, and bandurrias. There are Harwood brand banjos in my 1895 catalog, but we don't have any evidence that they were made in K.C. Haynes was making Bay State banjos at the time. My assumption is that the Harwood banjos were probably made by Haynes. We've never seen a Harwood banjo come up for sale, but the Bay State instruments surface once in a while.

Jenkins did not make the Harwood branded band instruments, violins, and pianos. The band instruments were made in Indiana,the violins were probably imported from Germany, and the pianos, in the early days, were made in Rochester, New York. The later Harwood pianos were made by Aeolian in Memphis.

Bob

[HarHolz]

hello KanMando and everyone else:

thanks very much for your detailed review of what you have been doing to compile data on serial numbers and related documentation on the Harwoods. i appreciate your cautious and conservative-professional approach to documentation & verification. that said, can't a few more claims be ventured about these Harwood NY instruments, made at the Jenkins factory in KC. in other words, let me float a few provisional hypotheses and invite you to shoot them down, or confirm them.

correct me if I am wrong, or let me know if these points cannot be supported (most of which comes from points you have posted or that appear in the Fretboard article):

1a. the earliest of these instruments dates from 1894, when the factory in KC was opened [although there seem to be some earlier Harwood instruments made in Boston?.... i'm really fuzzy on these beginnings.]

1b. what is the lowest serial number you have recorded/seen for the "Harwood NY" line? [on the unique guitar site there is a Harwood NY #5, serial number 7566, that a blogger says appears in a photo dating from 1898/99 [must admit somewhat uncertain/fuzzy dates... but suggestive that the 7566 # was used no later than 1899.]

2a. the last string instruments as 'Harwood NY' (in KC) was in 1930 at the latest (production may have stopped earlier). [do you have any evidence, that instruments were made after that point?.... i'm thinking not. looking in university library catalogues for the sheet music or any publications by J W Jenkins.... the publication dates stop in 1930. did J W Jenkins complete fold by then? in the wake of the stock market crash?]

2b. what is the highest serial number on any of these Harwood NY (from KC) stringed instruments. there is a serial number 26613 on the Retrofret website currently for a concert size Harwood for sale (they approximate 1915, but that date could be way off, or?]

3. in 1899 there was a 'new line' of Harwood guitars (by Jenkins). as announced in an advertisement posted on this site recently. this seems to have introduced new models.

4. ca. 1902, the Harwood name no longer appears on the headstock, only on the various trademarks (inside the guitar, and on the white celluloid tab.... all markings that were already being used [Bob Jenkin's well reasoned conjecture. in post #103]


5. my questions about serial numbers involves establishing some general patterns... not only using the sequence to i.d. particular instruments. are, for example the early Harp guitars numbered with lower numbers (but part of the same run of, what seems like about 30,000 instruments over a 45 year history of manufacturing??)


------

As for "Baldwin & Gleason Co Limited NY Patent" it is printed--engraved directly along the bottom edge of the white celluloid tab reading "HARWOOD" ON this parlor guitar i have: serial number 10351. this guitar is very similar to one appearing in the middle of the 2-page spread of 5 Harwood instruments in the new Fretboard. I can well imagine that this telltale "Baldwin & Gleason....." text was trimmed away on most examples.
--Baldwin & Gleason, well, i looked up a few more things about them. They were a fine engraving company in NYC, from ca. 1860--1901. there is a NY Times article of december 23, 1901, describing the fire consuming their facility in NYC, burning celluloid creating fumes, etc.... Presumably they stopped engraving at this point. One would think that the Jenkins Co., had purchased a big order of the Celluloid "Harwood" tabs earlier and had a big supply on hand that they continued to use, maybe til the very end. Researching Baldwin & Gleason takes us fairly far afield from mandolins & guitars, and especially that the NY Times reported their factory being consumed in fire in December 1901.... the chance of sales records/invoices with Jenkins of KC lessens rather dramatically.... could be another dead end. but it does supply the source of the telltale White Celluloid tabs. B & G has some really impressive engraving work, including their own stationary & adverts,... that some rudimentary google searching will turn up for anyone.

i'll try to photograph my Harwood soon.... I could not say with any certainty which # it is (6?). my hypothesis is that it dates in the 1903-1907 years. it is a simple parlor guitar, with the rosewood sides and back, spruce top, slotted headstock, a mere 3 inlayed dots on the ebony fretboard. the bridge has been replaced recently, with a slightly smaller bridge leaving some glue marks around its edges. the headstock is plain (no text or designs on it). but very playable, great action ... i can't put it down. it will take a few days however before i can.

my other thought, is that there were far fewer mandolins and guitars made that this ca. 30,000 serial numbers suggests. how do we know that some numbers, series of numbers were not used.... or were reserved for other kinds of instruments (that were produced or only planned for production)? maybe it is known, how can we be sure? what speaks for that, or how can we rule that out? (are we sure that the other four lines of guitars and mandolins, etc. (or 1 or 2 of them) overseen, marketed & owned by Jenkins did not share in this long line of 30,000 serial numbers?).

i hope my questions are not too tedious. and again, i appreciate immensely the work, KanMando has done, is doing, to clarify the Harwood story. thanks for all the new information in your last post. i'll think about it while i'm preparing christmas dinner.

HarHolz

[HarHolz]

hello:

attached are photos of this harwood parlor guitar, mentioned in previous posts, with close ups of the celluloid inlay reading in TINY type: "Baldwin & Gleason Co. NY Limited Pat]

hopefully the affiliation with B & G might lead to something more.

Does anyone know which model this is? it does not have the inlay zip down the middle of the back, somewhat less fancy that others posted recently. must be the basic model from those years.

HarHolz

[KanMando]

Thanks for the photos, HarHolz. I re-checked the logo on my guitar, and there is a little remnant of the manufacturer's text on the bottom, but nothing I can read.

Your guitar is a No.1 Standard Size.

Bob

[KanMando]

I'm going to address HarHolz's questions in post #108:

1a. the earliest of these instruments dates from 1894, when the factory in KC was opened [although there seem to be some earlier Harwood instruments made in Boston?.... i'm really fuzzy on these beginnings.]

The Jenkins company had a five year agreement with the John C. Haynes company of Boston to manufacture guitars and mandolins under the Harwood name. This started in 1889 and ended in 1894. The Haynes company also made the Bay State instruments that were widely distributed in the U.S. I have an 1890's Bay State catalog, and the guitars and mandolins appear to be very similar to the Harwoods.

1b. what is the lowest serial number you have recorded/seen for the "Harwood NY" line? [on the unique guitar site there is a Harwood NY #5, serial number 7566, that a blogger says appears in a photo dating from 1898/99 [must admit somewhat uncertain/fuzzy dates... but suggestive that the 7566 # was used no later than 1899.]

That's going to take some digging on my part. I haven't really compiled the photos and serial numbers into an organized database yet.

2a. the last string instruments as 'Harwood NY' (in KC) was in 1930 at the latest (production may have stopped earlier). [do you have any evidence, that instruments were made after that point?.... i'm thinking not. looking in university library catalogues for the sheet music or any publications by J W Jenkins.... the publication dates stop in 1930. did J W Jenkins complete fold by then? in the wake of the stock market crash?]

From our research we can find no evidence that Jenkins continued to manufacture the Harwoods after 1911. We do suspect that parts that were left over after the factory was shut down, such as the white block fretboard inlays and engraved tuner covers, were shipped to whoever Jenkins contracted to make the Harwood branded instruments for them. There is speculation that that may have been the Larson brothers at first, and then Regal later on.

No, Jenkins Music Company did not shut down during the depression, but continued to operate under the original family ownership until 1972. In fact, they moved into their famous store at 1217 Walnut in downtown Kansas City in 1932. This building is in the National Register of Historic Places. Only the art deco facade remains today. The economic collapse of 1929 took a huge toll on piano manufacturers in particular. Jenkins was already out of the instrument manufacturing business by this time, but Martin and Gibson managed to survive the depression. In 1929, Jenkins sold Harwood brand guitars, but they also sold Martin, and they were one of the largest Gibson dealers in the U.S.

2b. what is the highest serial number on any of these Harwood NY (from KC) stringed instruments. there is a serial number 26613 on the Retrofret website currently for a concert size Harwood for sale (they approximate 1915, but that date could be way off, or?]

Once again, I'll have to look in to that.

3. in 1899 there was a 'new line' of Harwood guitars (by Jenkins). as announced in an advertisement posted on this site recently. this seems to have introduced new models.

I searched the forum for this reference and didn't turn up anything.

4. ca. 1902, the Harwood name no longer appears on the headstock, only on the various trademarks (inside the guitar, and on the white celluloid tab.... all markings that were already being used [Bob Jenkin's well reasoned conjecture. in post #103]

Actually, the Harwood name does not appear on the headstock of any instruments before 1902. We don't know when the headstock logo first appeared, but it was after 1902.

5. my questions about serial numbers involves establishing some general patterns... not only using the sequence to i.d. particular instruments. are, for example the early Harp guitars numbered with lower numbers (but part of the same run of, what seems like about 30,000 instruments over a 45 year history of manufacturing??)

You're right. I need to correspond with Gregg Miner and find out what he has to say about the harp guitar serial numbers. I have never personally seen a Harwood harp guitar.

I can't say I'm very optimistic about getting the serial number/manufacture date issue resolved. Unless some records are uncovered here in Kansas City, I think the best we may be able to do is approximate dates. I would really like to find some more Jenkins catalogs from the 1890 - 1925 period.

Bob

[HarHolz]

thanks Bob for all of the history of the the Jenkins Company.

i still think a list naming/describing of 6 to 12 Harwood instruments and their serial numbers, would go a long way toward sorting out the sequence, if not the absolute dating of the guitars (and maybe the mandolins too). just through my casual looking around the web, one finds serial numbers on Harwoods from the 7000s to ca. 30000. Is it your hunch when Jenkins' KC, Walnut St. stringed instrument factory closed in 1911, that the last serial number was then used on a Harwood, and maybe the last celluloid inlays on the fretboards? you seem to think that the use of the celluloid inlay-blocks continued with the next manufacturer....which would also suggest that the serial numbers sequence might have gone on and on too, well after 1911?

just looking around the last 20 min. online, i turned up a J. W. Jenkins & Sons, ad "Good Things to Buy for Christmas" from the KC Journal, December 21, 1897. there are some details about Harwood (and Jenkins' other) guitars for sale. i post it here.

also: the other Jenkins advertisement from 1900, i mentioned, and you could not find, is found in Post #70 above. the vertical text up the side notes the new models of Harwoods for 1899.

apologies for my misunderstanding that the Jenkins Co went under after the crash of 1929. but it would appear that their sheet music business ceased in early 1930 (to judge by the absence of copyright dates on their vast publication of sheet music through 1929).

do you have a best guess for the year (or range of years) for 10351 & 10353 ? is your 10353 a Number 1 as well?

catalogues, pre 1911, i guess are what you most want? there is a catalogue in the Missouri History Museum library's online catalogue for _Jenkins bargains in sample and used band instruments_, published by Jenkins Music Company, 192_?. it is described as a "folded sheet". i'm not sure if band instruments would have included guitars and mandolins in the 1920s, or mostly brass and drums.

all best,

HarHolz

[delsbrother]

That's interesting ad copy there.. "Orange Colored tops"?

[brunello97]

Thanks, HarHolz for posting the ad. I notice that the Clifford, Washington, and Royal lines are featured by not "Harwood", though it is mentioned in the intro copy. Hard to make much of from the illustrations except for the unique shaped scratchplate, which does resemble one that has been posted here.

For me, the detective work on these old mandolin makers (here and in Italy) turns up equally fascinating information about the times, places and process from which they emerged. Directly to the left of the ad is an article discussing Maine's experience with Prohibition. I recently read "Last Call" on the history of Prohibition and watched Ken Burns PBS documentary on the subject. Very interesting to see a contemporary article on the topic.

Mick

[KanMando]

In the course of doing research for the Harwood article, I scanned many, many, pages of the Kansas City newspapers from the period, as well as city directories and old photographs of Kansas City. It really gave me a new appreciation for my home town. One thing that surprised me was that at the turn of the century, the population of Kansas City, MO, was about 350,000. Photographs from that time show that the town was very compact and built up. There was little evidence of the urban-suburban sprawl that we have today. A lot of people were living in a relatively small area. In 1878, my great-great-grandfather lived within easy walking distance of the original Jenkins store in the 600 block of Main St. One of the articles I ran across, I think from the 1920s, mentions that my grandfather, Paul Jenkins, was going to manage Jenkins' new "suburban" store at 31st and Main. Anyone familiar with Kansas City now would hardly consider that area to be suburban, and it's only twenty blocks south of the downtown store.

Bob

[KanMando]

Re: post #114.

Mick, I cringe every time I see that photo of my Harwood bowlback with that textured white plastic pickguard. It was obviously non-original and has since been replaced with a more period-correct tortoise guard. It's shown in the close-up photo in the Fretboard Journal article.

Bob

[brunello97]

Sorry, Bob. I should scan the image from FB journal and replace it.

I just thought the specificity of the shape of the SP in the illustration was noteworthy. No mistaking that it was 'drawn from life.'

Mick

[Masterbilt]

attached are photos of this harwood parlor guitar,

HarHolz - lovely looking guitar! Hope to have the chance to play it once ...

[brunello97]

A cursory search turned up this Harwood bowlback for sale at a guitar shop.

http://www.tommysguitarshop.com/cat/...ndex.cfm?p=235

I didn't see it referenced in the thread, so thought to get some images of it up. Some general similarities to mine, but virtually all the details are different. A particular note is the neck/head joint: not a simple or common detail. I've seen it on Martin bowlbacks and other east coast builders. (No assumptions being made here.)

Looks like a nice mandolin. $1K? Well...

Mick

[pfox14]

Not much to add to the Harwood discussion, but here's the cover of Gibson's first issue of their in-house magazine "The Mastertone" with a really nice picture of the display window of J.W. Jenkins Music in Kansas City.

[arkyrover]

I'm embarking on a personal research project. I'm seeking information on Harwood brand stringed instruments manufactured for and by the Jenkins Music Company of Kansas City.

By the way, my name is Robert Jenkins, and yes, it's the same Jenkins. It was a family owned business from its beginning in 1878 until it was sold by my father in 1972.

Being a guitar and mandolin player, I'm curious about these instruments. I've only seen one in person. It was a parlor guitar, very plain in appointments, being shown at a guitar show in Independence, MO. It needed major restoration, but the guy only wanted $75.00 cash. By the time I called my dad to get his recollections on the Harwood brand, and got back with the cash, it had been sold.

So, having become a regular browser on the Mandolin Cafe, I know that there has to be someone out there who can fill in the gaps. Mainly: who really built the Harwoods, and did Jenkins Music ever have its own shop and build them. My dad does not have any documents, but does think that Jenkins did have its own shop for a while.

Here's what I've found so far by Google:

From http://www.mugwumps.com/faq.htm

Q: I have a small, flattop acoustic guitar made by Harwood. Aside from this specific instrument, I've never seen nor heard another Harwood guitar and, despite some digging, I've found nothing about this maker. I've never even seen the name on any used-instrument dealers' inventory lists. Can you enlighten me? BM
A: Harwood was a brand name used by J.W. Jenkins Company, a Kansas City, MO musical instrument dealers and wholesalers. They introduced the Harwood brand in 1885, which they may not have actually manufactured. Circa 1895 they established a factory and produced guitars and mandolins under the Clifford and the Washington brand names. Some guitars marked "Harwood, New York" have been seen. It is not known if these are also by Jenkins.


frets.com

and

harpguitars

Check out the drawing of the harp mandolin on this one. Unfortunately, no mando photos, but wow - those guitars were gorgeous.

Regards,
Bob

Bob - just read the article in Fretboard Journal. Was very excited to find it. I have a Harwood violin (Stradivarius model) and possibly a Harwood taterbug mandolin that has had the headstock replaced. Fretboard changes about 1/2 way up. My family comes from NE Ks (Jackson Co.) so imagine that they bought from Jenkins...

[KanMando]

Not much to add to the Harwood discussion, but here's the cover of Gibson's first issue of their in-house magazine "The Mastertone" with a really nice picture of the display window of J.W. Jenkins Music in Kansas City.

That photo is also in Spann's Guide To Gibson 1902-1941. It dates to 1925, so this would have been the company's third location in downtown Kansas City at 1015 Walnut. That may be a Loar-signed F-5 mandolin there in the center back. Jenkins was one of the largest Gibson dealers in the U.S.

[delsbrother]

I wonder if Loar ever visited that location. He toured all over; I would think he might've stopped by large Gibson distributors to see how things were going. Any listings of Loar's group playing in the area?

[pfox14]

Here's a brief 1932 article on Jenkins new building in Kansas City also located on Walnut Street.

[pfox14]

Just found this 1903 article that was published in The Music Trade Review specifically mentioning Jenkins' own factory being dedicated to the manufacturing of Harwood mandolins and guitars.