Church, John & Company (1959-1930) | University of Illinois Archives

John Church & Company was a piano retailer and sheet music publishing house founded in Cincinnati, Ohio by John Church Jr. in 1959. Ten years later, Church's business purchased a majority share of the rival Ditson msuci company in Cincinnati. In 1973 he bought Chicago's George Root and Sons. By the 1880s, Church had expanded his business to Boston and Chicago. In 1881, Church began publishing the periodical Musical Visitor. Around this time, Church became the principal publisher for John Philip Sousa. In 1883, Frank Lee joined the business. Church and Lee founded the Everett Piano Company in Boston that same year. In 1884, the two businessmen purchased the Harvard Piano Company in Dayton, Kentucky.

Theodore Presser bought the company in 1930.