In 1867, three young orphaned brothers left New York to live with their sister in Adrian, Michigan. They began to sell sewing machines to raise some money, but after stumbling across a large assortment of new musical instruments, they discovered that selling musical instruments was far more successful.

Join us for a look back at the history of the Grinnell Brothers Music House with Hugh Grinnell, great-grandson of Herbert Grinnell who, with his two brothers, founded the company in 1879 in Ann Arbor. The brothers could not envision that their little wooden Ann Arbor store would launch a business that would be headquartered in Detroit by 1895. There, they built what was known as the Grinnell Building at 1515 Woodward Avenue. By 1950, they would become the largest music company in the world with 40 branch stores, including a branch store in Petoskey.

Mr. Grinnell's presentation will include the history of the company along with hundreds of historic photos from the 19th and 20th centuries.