Jonas Chickering
(April 5, 1798-December 8, 1853) was an important piano manufacturer in Boston, Massachusetts.


Jonas Chickering was born April 5, 1798 in Mason Village, and raised in nearby New Ipswich, New Hampshire where his father Abner Chickering kept a farm and worked as a blacksmith. Chickering apprenticed three years as a cabinet maker with John Gould.

In 1818 Chickering removed to Boston with Gould's permission, working for cabinet-maker James Baker, but one year later began working for pianomaker John Osborn at 12 Orange Street.
In 1823, Chickering formed a partnership with pianomaker James Stewart; they produced 15 pianos the first year at workshops at 20 Common street and sold their first piano on June 23, 1823 for $275.

Stewart & Chickering dissolved after four years, and in 1830 Chickering became associated with John Mackay (Boston Industrialist), a merchant, as well as organ and pianomaker who had worked with Alpheus Babcock, doing business as Chickering & Co. at 416 Washington street. In 1837 Chickering & Mackays (with Mackay's son William H. Mackay) built a new five story factory, with warerooms and a small concert hall, at 334 Washington Street, and warehouse at Franklin square...

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Concert Grand Piano Made by Chickering Boston Circa 1880s



Very Rare Concert Grand piano made by Chickering From Boston USA. Concert Grand pianos of this quality are very hard to come by and somewhat rare...

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Chickering and Sons was an American piano manufacturer located in Boston, known for producing award-winning instruments of superb quality and design. The company was founded in 1823 by Jonas Chickering and James Stewart, but the partnership dissolved four years later. By 1830 Jonas Chickering became partners with John Mackay, manufacturing pianos as Chickering & Company, and later Chickering & Mackays until the senior Mackay's death in 1841, and reorganized as Chickering & Sons in 1853. Chickering pianos continued to be made until 1983.



Jonas Chickering made several major contributions to the development of piano technology, most notably by introducing a one-piece, cast-iron plate to support the greater string tension of larger grand pianos...

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