Gennett Records & Starr Piano Richmond Indiana
Before the Vinyl
Gennett Records was a pioneering Richmond, Indiana record label that helped shape the sound of American music in the early 20th century.
Before the Keys
Starr Piano was a major Richmond, Indiana piano manufacturer whose instruments were sold throughout the world and whose legacy later gave rise to Gennett Records, helping make Richmond an important part of America’s musical history.
It was Nye & Starr
Nye & Starr Tin Shop was a longtime Richmond business that served the community through the manufacture and repair of tinware, sheet-metal goods, and other practical household and commercial products.
Long before Starr Commons became a place for today's celebrations, meetings, classes, and gatherings, this building was part of the remarkable industrial and musical history of Richmond, Indiana. Located in the city's historic Depot District, the building has been connected to businesses and people who helped shape Richmond's identity as a center of manufacturing, commerce, and music. Today, we're proud to give this historic space a new chapter while preserving the character and stories that came before us.
A Building With a Story
Our History
One of the building's early chapters was its connection to Nye & Starr Tin Shop, a Richmond business that served the community through the manufacture and repair of tinware, sheet-metal goods, and other practical household and commercial products. Businesses like Nye & Starr were an important part of the everyday commercial life of a growing Richmond, helping establish the building as a place of work, craftsmanship, and commerce.
Nye & Starr Tin Shop
Richmond's name became known around the world through the Starr Piano Company. Founded in the late 19th century, Starr Piano grew into a major manufacturer whose instruments were sold throughout the United States and internationally. The company's success helped make Richmond an important center of piano manufacturing and established the Starr name as part of the city's industrial legacy.
The influence of Starr Piano extended far beyond the manufacture of instruments. The company's connection to music would eventually lead to one of Richmond's most significant contributions to American musical history.
Starr Piano Company
Gennett Records
In 1917, the Starr Piano Company entered the recording business with the creation of Gennett Records. What began as a recording operation connected to a piano manufacturer became one of the most important early record labels in America. Gennett recorded an extraordinary range of emerging American music, including jazz, blues, country, gospel, and other styles that were helping shape the nation's musical identity.
Artists recorded by Gennett included some of the most influential musicians of the early twentieth century, among them Louis Armstrong, Charley Patton, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Hoagy Carmichael, and many others. These recordings helped preserve some of the earliest sounds of American popular music and established Richmond as an unlikely but important birthplace of recorded American music.
From Industry to Community
The history of this building reflects something larger about Richmond itself. It represents generations of people making things, building businesses, creating music, and contributing to a community that has always had a distinctive character. The building has changed with the times, but its original character remains visible in the brick walls, wood floors, architectural details, and other elements that connect today's Starr Commons with the Richmond of generations past.
A New Chapter: Starr Commons
Today, Starr Commons carries that history forward in a different way. Rather than preserving the building as a place frozen in the past, we've created a space where people can continue making their own memories here.
The room that once belonged to Richmond's working and manufacturing history is now a place for celebrations, meetings, classes, workshops, receptions, community gatherings, and countless other possibilities. We believe that's the best way to honor an old building—not simply by remembering what happened here, but by giving it a reason to matter today.
From Starr Piano to Gennett Records, from industry to community, Starr Commons is proud to be part of Richmond's continuing story.
Richmond's Musical Legacy
The story of Starr Commons is also part of a much larger Richmond story. Starr Piano and Gennett Records helped put this small Indiana city on the map of American music, and the legacy continues to be celebrated today. The historic buildings, businesses, recordings, and people connected to that era remain an important reminder that extraordinary things can come from unexpected places.
We invite you to come experience a little of that history—and make some of your own.