1897 Square Grand Piano Finds Its Way Back Home

Several times in the past, I’ve shared how no two days at the museum are ever the same. Whether it’s a surprising phone call, an unexpected email, or a chance conversation with a visitor, you never know what story or artifact might walk through the door—sometimes literally. Well, this week, I get to add something new to that list: a Facebook message.

On Monday, we received a message via Facebook from Kay, a resident of Altenburg. She works in Jackson, and her boss’s parents—who live in Cape Girardeau—were in the process of selling their house. As part of the move, they needed to part with something quite special: an 1897 Beatty square grand piano that simply wouldn’t fit in their new home.

Kay passed along the contact info for Bob, the current owner, and I gave him a call. He told me that the piano originally came from Altenburg—or maybe Frohna. (It seems that for those unfamiliar with East Perry County, the two are easily confused!) His parents purchased it in 1947 from a man named Paul Bauer—at least that’s how he remembered the name being spelled. Paul agreed to sell the piano with one condition: he would be allowed to come down and give weekly piano lessons to Bob and his sister. When Bob’s parents passed away, he and his wife inherited the instrument. In fact, when they built their current home, they designed a room specifically to house the piano.

At this point, I have to take a little aside. If you’ve been following the museum for the past year and a half, parts of this story might sound familiar. This is actually the second square grand piano we’ve been gifted in that time! In April 2024, the Loebs/Schmidt family donated an even older one—possibly from the 1860s—that also spent time in Perry County. You can read that story in this post: Pretty Piano’s Provenance. Then, in June 2024, we were gifted an organ, most recently owned by Carol and Sonny Boehme, who also built a home around their instrument. That story is told here: Donating and Transplanting an Organ.

Now—back to this piano story!

Bob also tells me that they are closing on the house the next day (it is Tuesday by this point, so closing is on Wednesday). The buyer has someone who is interested in the piano, but Bob really wants to donate it to us. So, after a quick consultation with the board, I let him know that we would be honored to accept it. Bob mentioned the buyers weren’t moving in right away, so we’d have up to a week to arrange the move.

My next phone call was to Luttrell Moving and Storage. They had previously moved the other square grand piano for us last year—as well as all of the river memorabilia we received from Grand Tower. As luck would have it, they’d just had a cancellation and could move the piano the very next day—Wednesday!

Quick commercial break: If you’re in Southeast Missouri and need anything moved—especially something large and delicate like a piano—I highly recommend Luttrell Moving and Storage!

Now, back again to the story. Somewhere along the way, Bob mentioned that the man who sold the piano not only gave lessons but also made rag rugs. At first, I just thought that was an interesting detail—one of those charming tidbits that add character to a story. But as I relayed this to Gerard, I got to the part about the rag rugs, and without hesitation, he said: “Wait a minute—this almost has to be Paul Beyer, not Bauer.”

When we met Bob and the movers at the house on Wednesday, he handed me the original paperwork. And what’s the first thing I looked for? The spelling of the name. Sure enough: Paul Beyer.

So—who was Paul Beyer?

Paul was the son of Teacher Beyer and Sarah (née Kramer), featured in this earlier blog post: Sarah Kramer Marries the Teacher. In that post, we mention that Teacher Beyer once lived in this house:

located here:

It appears that Paul never married and eventually inherited the family home. He was known locally for giving piano lessons… and for making rag rugs.

If you’ve been to the museum recently, you know there’s just no room for a piano of this size in the Big School. So, we made the decision to place it in the South Gallery. Our hope is to have it tuned and ready for use during hymn sings and other musical events—especially during the Christmas Country Church Tour. It’s always exciting when a piece of history can also have a role in creating new memories.

And if you really want to make Gerard’s day, give us a call (or send an email, a Facebook message, or just walk through the door) and tell us that you’d like to donate Paul’s loom—the very one he used to make those rag rugs!