 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jim
Date: 2002-10-05 22:23
I am stumped! My daughter just bought an old wood clarinet with a very old cloth and wooden case. The name on this perfect piece is W. R. Yerke, Paoli, Indiana. We can find NO information on this name or company anywhere. Any info would be highly appreciated. Jim
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-10-06 04:46
Hi, Jim
Being stumped over who made the old instrument just gets in the way of making music with a nice old instrument.
You call your daughter's clarinet a 'perfect piece'. I didn't know there was such a thing but, by that I presume you mean it's at least playable. If so, how does it sound?
I'm sure you'll get some information about Yerke of Indiana but the main thing is not the case or the maker, rather how good (or bad it plays.
There have been some very nice instruments produced that never made the major leagues but are still better than average players.
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Author: Jim
Date: 2002-10-06 12:38
You, of course, are correct from a musician's perspective and that is a perspective my daughter and wife are able to share with you. I am conspicuously lacking in talent in that field, so I look more at the historical and physical attributes of the wonderful old instruments that we are able to aquire. I like playing detective and finding out as much of the history of an old piece as I can. Did you see the movie THE RED VIOLIN? That's the perspective I see. Jim
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-10-06 13:58
Just a comment...but Paoli is a very small town in southern Indiana. Never heard of any clarinets being made down there...rather, way north in Elkhart. Maybe it's the owner's name. I too am interested in the history of my horns...Paoli's down in limestone mining country....the "other" movie about bike racing
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Author: Jim
Date: 2002-10-06 14:40
Thanks for the info Bob. That kinda makes it even more interesting...The name and city are stamped in a very small oval shaped area in two places on the instrument, the bell and the body. I had never heard of Paoli before. Jim
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-10-06 14:59
Jim - I ran on to something similar here in OK several years ago. This cl had a personal name {Stuart} and a small town near Ok City. Knowing the best OK repairman, Wayne Stuart [at Larsen's-Brook Mays , OKC], I asked and found the name [a relative] was of a local concert band of the '30's [depression era] , which contracted with a maker [I believe] Conn to make a number of cls [etc?] for their band, this one showing up in a pawn shop! Hope it may help!! Don
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Author: Jim
Date: 2002-10-06 19:07
Dang, Something like that gives your instrument personality and gives me an idea for a direction to search - to do a people search in that town. Thanks for the insight and the interest. Jim
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2002-10-07 12:11
Many of the larger band instrument companies had a stencil made carrying the store name. The instrument may have been made by any one of the French manufacturers of the day (guesstimate 1930-1950) when import quotas kept a limit on their numbers.
I should hope no bore oil made in the style of "The Red Violin" was ever used... not that there is so desirable a clarinet.
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Author: jim
Date: 2002-10-08 00:06
Thanks for the edification. I have learned much I didn't know in the last few days. By the way, are you a Bosch fan? (of the Hieronymus flavor?)
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Author: photocurt
Date: 2010-11-03 17:14
Hello All,
Okay so I'm chiming in a bit late on this thread. But as my grandmother just passed away I decided to do some research. My grandfather (who passed in 2009) may be the last direct descendant of the Yerke Family. Yes they did manufacture the clarinet. My grandfather Don ran the factory until its demise. I have more info if you would like....
If you still have or know the whereabouts of this Clarinet please contact me through this thread.
Thanks!
Curtis
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Author: jasperbay
Date: 2010-11-04 00:20
That really takes away the mystery and fun when somebody pipes up and says: "Oh, my grandpa Don Yerke made that clarinet, what's the big deal?"!! Whatever happened to "always leave 'em wantin more!", or leaving on the pasties and G-string??
Of course, we still don't know much about the Yerke factory, the quality of their clarinets, or how well they play!!, so some mystery is preserved.
Clark G. Sherwood
Post Edited (2010-11-04 13:22)
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Author: repairguy
Date: 2010-12-08 14:05
@ Curtis,
Just this morning, we had a clarinet labeled as "W. R. Yerke Paoli, Indiana" show up for repair. It looks like it has been in long-term storage. I was intrigued because my family is from the Paoli/West Baden/French Lick area of Indiana and had never heard of a clarinet being manufactured there. I'm familiar with "stencil" instruments and thought that this might be the case with this instrument. When I did a search for W. R. Yerke Paoli, Indiana, I stumbled onto this thread and was surprised to find someone connected to the Yerke family. I would be interested to learn more about the factory in Paoli such as location, years of operation, etc....
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Author: photocurt
Date: 2010-12-10 20:12
Sorry to take so long to post. I've been trying to get more information about the possibility that the clarinets may have been manufactured and/or sold under other names. I do know that the family business was originally started by Walter Rudolf (or Randolf) Yerke born 1891 who had a heart attack and died in Chicago while on a sales trip around 1950. Most of the clarinets were sold in the Chicago area. I believe that WR Yerke started his career as a repair man before starting the factory. While I can only make some assumptions I do know that a family member may have embezzled funds and with the sudden death of WR Yerke the factory was somewhat short lived.. I'll contact some family and see if I can gain more info...
Curtis
Curtis
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Author: George Stalle
Date: 2010-12-12 10:54
This is one of the more fascinating threads I've read recently. Thanks, every one! Curtis, sorry to hear about the embezzlement part!!
George Stalle
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Author: hamilton
Date: 2011-05-25 19:46
To revive this topic, we inherited a W.R. Yerke clarinet. I had to really search this thing, as the inscription on the bell is about gone. I actually made out the Paoli, Ind. part better, which led me here. Any new info anyone has found would be very much appreciated! We're in Bluffton, Indiana, and are getting ready to check into having it restored (family heirloom, at least 40+ years old). Thanks!
Just for fun
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Author: Pastor Rob
Date: 2012-12-15 14:27
Recently visited some old friends in Springfield, IL. Sure enough, proudly displayed on their bookshelf is old Yerke clarinet. It appeared to be of hard rubber and a student model. She said her parents purchased it new for her nearly 70 years ago. She was from the Evansville area.
Pastor Rob Oetman
Leblanc LL (today)
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Author: photocurt
Date: 2012-12-17 17:23
Dear Pastor Bob,
Thank you for your post! Hearing that someone so treasures their Yerke clarinet really brings a smile to my face!
Curtis
Curtis
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Author: cman
Date: 2013-09-19 22:35
Hello Curtis,
I just stumbled upon this website while looking for info on the clarinet I just bought from the "Goodwill" website.
It's a "W.R. Yerkes, ARIA" made in Mitchell, Indiana. Serial#5426.
I don't really play clarinet, but this one sounds really good to me!
If you are still interested, I'd be more than happy to send you photos
if you like.
I live in Calif. now, just retired and collecting musical instruments for fun,
but I was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana. No hospital in Charlestown!
all the best, Charlie
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Author: photocurt
Date: 2013-09-19 23:03
Charlie,
I believe you are very luck to be in possession of a Yerke Clarinet! I do currently have one and will always treasure the memories and legacy my family has created.
Curtis
Curtis
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Author: OldHarley
Date: 2013-09-21 23:05
Hello, photocurt and others on this thread,
Interesting read. Add this to the story, though.
My great aunt taught piano in the small town of Farmersville, TX (Farmersville is located just NE of Dallas).
Around 1955, as a small boy, I would visit there occasionally. During summer vacation and off from school, I took piano lessons from my great aunt when we visited there.
About that time, I was thinking about beginning band in school and was looking for an instrument. I wanted to play brass of some type, but my folks did not have the funds at that time to buy or rent the trumpet, coronet, or trombone (I couldn't decide) that I had my heart set on.
During the next Farmersville trip, my great aunt went to her closet and pulled out a clarinet, and told me this story... She said a salesman had visited her some years earlier and had given her this clarinet to show to her piano students and maybe encourage them to take up the clarinet.
There was some hesitation on her part when she offered the clarinet to me, since she said the salesman had promised faithfully to check back with her on his next trip and that he might have wanted the instrument back.
Since she never heard from him again and several years had passed, she decided it would be OK to pass the instrument to me. She said that maybe he forgot he left the instrument. She even said "..you know, I wonder if he died..."
My great aunt passed away many years ago, but when I recently cleaned out my mom's closet after her passing - lo and behold - she still had the old clarinet. It was marked W R Yerke, on the bell and on at least two other sections, along with a serial number.
Based on the info from this thread, I can't imagine how the salesman made it all the way to Texas. That is a long way from Indiana, but that is exactly the story I heard 60 years ago. Maybe it WAS in 1950 and he DID die, altho' that would only be a guess based on your info.
Anyway, kind of interesting to read about the history, now.
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Author: photocurt
Date: 2013-09-22 21:57
OldHarley,
I couldn't think of better story to be told. Our world worked in different ways during that era... Thank you for sharing!
Curtis
Curtis
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Author: BobD
Date: 2013-09-23 13:21
Really enjoyed re-reading this resurrected posting and can barely recall making one of the responses back then. In a way, it reminds me of my Dad's story about working at the Kimball Piano Co. in Chicago in 1920 and having the foreman approach him about joining his crew in a piano factory he was setting up in Indiana.
Bob Draznik
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Author: GSpear
Date: 2021-03-17 06:01
Attachment: AC1BE2F4-C2D4-4F5E-88B9-E0132FEC80FC.jpeg (379k)
Hello, I am from Paoli, Indiana and currently live in Mitchell, just about 12 miles north of Paoli.
Mr Yerke did indeed run a clarinet factory in paoli and then sometime after 1947 he moved moved the factory to Mitchell. We know this because he Paoli clarinet factory is featured in photos from a Life magazine photo shoot in 1947. You can see those photos here.
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/paoli/m0sp6f?hl=en
Yerke factory photo here
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/paoli-indiana/SQHKJy8aAoM77Q?hl=en
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/paoli-indiana/8QFeIa02I0cN1A?hl=en
I have one of the Yerke clarinets from the Paoli factory in my personal collection of area history. Serial number 1226. But I don’t know what year that number denotes.
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Author: GSpear
Date: 2021-09-28 19:04
Did some more research on Yerke. Here's the extent of what I could find.
Walter R. Yerke was founder and president of W.R. Yerke, Inc., a
company that manufactured clarinets in Paoli and Mitchell, Indiana.
Yerke moved from Detroit, where he worked for the Conn Instrument Company, to Paoli with his wife, Fern. They had a son, Robert, and a daughter, Dorothy (LaPrairie). Yerke founded his company and began construction of his facilities in the Spring of 1946 near the northern end of Paoli town limits, at Hwy 37 and Hospital Road. Production of clarinets began in early July of that year. HIs brother may have also been involved in the company but no further info on the brother has been found. Clarinets were priced at $98. Details at these links.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43989031/the-times-mail/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/547569999/
Yerke moved the clarinet factory to Mitchell in the Fall of 1949 after facing production quality problems at the Paoli location. The Mitchell facility was located at 314 Mississippi Ave, which was formerly the Alvey Grocery. Production began in late September or early October of that year. Details at these links:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43988416/the-times-mail/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43988554/the-times-mail/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/547877828/
Yerke died on a trip to Chicago of a heart attack on March 11, 1952 at the age of 57. The clarinet company closed upon his death. His wife, Fern, lived on to the age of 96 in Mitchell and died December 12, 1988. Details at these links.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/547233541/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43988710/the-times-mail/
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