Onofrio Piano Timeline

 

1885~1900 | 1907~1929 | 1940~1962 | 1963~1984 | 1991~2005

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1885- 1900

  • 1885 - Angelo Filippo Onofrio emigrates from Italy to Chicago where he learned the piano trade working for the Lyon & Healy Piano Co.

  • 1895 - A.F. Onofrio moves to Denver and using a barn as his repair shop, started business with one piano.

  • 1900 - Onofrio opens his first music store, the Colorado Music Company, in the Adams Hotel at 18th & Welton street.

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1907 - 1929

  • 1907 -  A.F. Onofrio moves the business to 15th & Welton, and sold Columbine pianos which were made exclusively for Onofrio.

  • 1913 - Business moves to Grant & Colfax. Filippo's son, Joe Sr., graduates from high school and travels to Chicago to perfect his skills as a piano technician, building pianos for Lyon & Healy.

  • 1915 - Joe Sr. returns to Colorado to join his father in the family business. Filippo and Joe travel a wide territory including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico selling and tuning pianos.

  • 1928 - A.F.Onofrio dies of asthma. The Co. Music was closed. Joe Sr. carried on the business from his home and later a small store in North Denver.

  • 1929 - The great depression devastates the piano industry. Joe Sr. goes to work for the City of Denver as Head of the Motor Vehicle Dept., and continues in the piano business.

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1940 - 1962

  • 1940 - America goes to War.

  • 1941 - U.S. Government halts all production of pianos so the piano factories may aid the war effort. Lieutenant Joe Onofrio Jr., goes to war in the Pacific theater.

  • 1945 - Joe Sr. opens a new store at 18th & Broadway, the Joe Onofrio Music Company, where he specializes in selling, buying and repairing pianos.

  • 1946 - Joe Jr. returns from the war and enters the family business with his father.

  • 1953 - Joe Jr. opens a second store at 7th & Sante Fe for servicing and selling used pianos.

  • 1955 - Business grew so rapidly that a new location is opened at 1332 Broadway.

  • 1962 - Joe Onofrio S. passes away.

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1963 - 1984

  • 1960's - Joe Onofrio Music Co. thrives and grows to fill half a city block with showrooms, repair and refinishing facilities and a warehouse.

  • 1974 - Onofrio Piano is forced to relocate when the city of Denver claims the 1300 block of Broadway for the new Colorado History Museum. The current location at 1332 So. Broadway is the largest building of its kind, specifically designed for the display and remanufacturing of pianos in the Rocky Mountain area.

  • 1984 - Joe Onofrio II passes away.

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1991 - 2008

  • 1991 - Joe Onofrio III returns to manage the family business and secures the Baldwin family of products.

  • 1995 - Booming economy and Baldwin pianos cause sales to soar. Onofrio Piano is named in the top 2% of music stores nationwide where it still appreciates this coveted position.

  • 2000 -  Joe Onofrio Piano Co. celebrates 100 years of helping people make beautiful music.

  • 2001 - September 11th - Terrorist attacks accentuate a downgraded economy and effect the piano industry.

  • 2003 - Onofrio Piano Co. recognized as one of the few remaining Piano Houses in America offering remanufacturing, refinishing, and retailing of pianos all under one roof.

  • 2005 - Onofrio Piano Co. acquires the world's best piano - Bösendorfer for the Rocky Mountain Region.

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