Vintage LEACH piano info wanted

[shio2010]

Hi!

Where can I find any information about the LEACH piano company? The logo has a beaver above the name LEACH and 'Montreal' below that, so it seems to be Canadian. Please see image attached.

Is LEACH a manufacturer's name or a brand, or something else?
Was the company established in 1840? (think I saw that on the Web somewhere)

We have a dark brown wood upright one, and I'd like to find out anything I can about it. Apparently, it was given to my grandmother-in-law as a wedding gift in 1921.

Thanks!

[silverwoodpianos]

There were a number of companies in Montreal, small ones, maybe 2 or 3 man shops that made instruments. Many of these companies were taken over by bigger companies.

Not much information exists for these companies even from the fellow who produced a book of Canadian piano history in 1991. Wayne Kelly the writer of Downright Upright found that many of the records were not kept accurately if they were kept at all.

For Leach instruments there is no listing for number or history. From the decal on the fallboard it looks like it could have come from one of these companies:
 
The Willis Co of Montreal .

The Craig Piano Co of Montreal.

The Canadian Piano Company Ste –Thérèse- de- Blainville

The Mendelsson  Piano Co. (Lesage)

Senecal and Quidoz Piano Co. Ste –Thérèse- de- Blainville

I am leaning toward the Craig Piano Co. Post the serial number please...... this will help to line up the dating..........

You might have to have a technician take this one apart a bit to find out who made this one.....

[shio2010]

Thank you for the helpful  information... The piano is in a storage place at the moment, but as soon as I get access I'll try to find the serial number!

[bengie]

Here is a little bit of information on the Leach Piano Company. The Leach Piano Company was founded by my great grandfather, William Henry Leach, in 1900. William had worked with and was very good friends with C.W.Lindsay, and decided to open his own piano company. Upon his death in 1926 my grandfather, Alfred Edward Leach, took over the company.  The company was located on St. Catherine Street West close to Peel until 1936 when it moved to 1525 Sherbrooke Street West. The above information was supplied by my mother, Alfred’s daughter Ona. The demand for pianos dropped during the war and the Leach piano Company went bankrupt sometime during the 1940s. The company tried to add radios during that time and she does remember listening to the radio in the Leach piano company’s showroom that the Americans had entered the war so it was sometime after that event.
D.