National Musical String Company

New Brunswick’s National Musical String Company opened in 1897 under the combined management of entrepreneurs Thomas Nelson Jr., Alexander M. Paul, and George Dow Emerson. After only two years in business, National Musical String was able to buy out its only competitor in the area, the American Musical String Company. By the time William R. McClelland purchased it in 1917, the New Brunswick firm had grown into the largest plant in the world devoted to the manufacture of musical strings. The company’s four-story main building was located along the Raritan River Railroad, providing it with excellent shipping and receiving facilities. By the end of the 1920s, it employed over 150 locals—primarily women-to manufacture musical strings known for their “precision and accuracy,” from cord, silk, steel, and cat gut. Its two world-famous brands of musical strings, Bell and Black Diamond, were made for every type of stringed instrument and shipped daily to destinations around the globe. In May 1922, the company began to manufacture house organs and the first harmonicas made in United States-both products quickly became highly reputable for their sweet and responsive sound. In 1982 the site of the defunct National Musical String Company on Georges Road was declared a National Historic Landmark.