Holton (Leblanc)

Holton is a brand owned by the Conn Selmer division of Steinway Musical Instruments. The original business was a used instrument shop began in 1898 by American trombone player Frank Holton in Chicago, Illinois. The firm built brass instruments for ten years in Chicago, then in Elkhorn, Wisconsin from 1918 until 2008, when production of Holton branded instruments moved to Eastlake, Ohio. The business remained independent until it was acquired by Leblanc in 1964. Leblanc was acquired by Conn Selmer in 2004 and its properties became subsidiaries of Conn Selmer.

Frank E. Holton was born March 10, 1858, in Allegan, Michigan to farmers Otis (b. 1827) and Hanna A. (b. 1829) Holton. He grew up with three sisters: Emma E. Holton, Alice Holton and Leona Holton. By the time he was 34, Frank Holton was an accomplished trombone player and principal trombone of the Sousa Band, a role that would later be filled by Arthur Pryor. In 1885 he had partnered with James Warren York in York & Holton, before he established his own company in 1898. They had no children. Frank Holton, though not an instrument maker himself, expanded his company to manufacture instruments which was his occupation until retiring at age 80. Frank Holton died after a protracted illness on April 16, 1942, at the age of 84. That building remained as the core of the Holton factory until the decision in 2008 to merge Holton horn production with King and Conn instruments in Eastlake, Ohio. While the factory had been paid for by the city of Elkhorn, the cost of training skilled labor resulted in the first profits there not being seen until 1920. In the early 1930s the Holton Collegiate line of student horns was introduced, which would last through the 1970s. After 2004 the defunct Collegiate line was re introduced by Conn Selmer under their Holton brand, again targeting a balance of quality and price suitable for school music programs.

After retiring, at age 82 Frank Holton sold the company to employee William Kull. The company was run from that point forward by sales manager Elliot Kehl, though Kull would retain the title CEO until he died in 1944. During World War II, the company performed defense work, as did most all instrument manufacturers. Following the war, Elliot Kehl secured a controlling interest in the company and began development of several new products including the Farkas Model French horn and a new line of saxophones. The Collegiate brand for brasswinds was terminated in 1980. From 1971 on, Leblanc used the Martin Committee brand on some Holton model brasswinds.

The Holton company relied on endorsement by leading artists as one of its primary marketing tools. Often these artists collaborated on the design of instruments that they would then play and promote. Some would subsequently leave Holton to build instruments themselves. line of horns. Maynard Ferguson (1928–2006), trumpet and flugelhorn virtuoso and namesake of the Holton Maynard Ferguson Trumpet line, performed as a Holton artist and designer starting in the 1960s. Harvey Phillips (1929–2010), tuba player, professor, creator of the Harvey Phillips Foundation and Tuba Christmas, and namesake of the Holton Phillips Model Tuba teamed with Holton in the 1990s. Not all ventures with artists were successful. The Holton Falcone Model baritone horn, developed at the end of the 1970s with input from the namesake of the Leonard Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Festival was dropped after only a short run when Leonard Falcone refused to endorse or play on the production version. There is no record of the popular 1920s saxophone player Rudy Wiedoeft ever having played on his namesake instrument produced by Holton.