The elder E.E. Forbes used to say, "Musical instruments are made to be sold, not played." Considering that Forbes himself never learned to play the pianos and organs that made E.E. Forbes and Sons Piano Company an institution in Birmingham, his philosophy might have smacked of commercialism. But Ernest Erastus Forbes never fit the image of a hard nosed entrepreneur, and he contributed far more to Alabama musicians than the instruments he sold.

E.E. Forbes played out his life without improvisation, faithfully following a score he believed God had written especially for him. Being a deeply religious man, he believed by exposing young people to music, it would keep them off the street and out of trouble.

Forbes struggled to maintain harmony between the economic and altruistic parts of his business, sometimes suffering financial disaster as a result. "He never made a lot of money," his grandsons say. "He'd sooner see a child have a piano than make a profit." However, with a wife, five children, a grandmother, and an aunt ensconced in the rambling Forbes home on St. Charles Street, responsibility for his own growing household drove Forbes to make the business work.

A lifelong Presbyterian, Forbes devoted much of his time to charity work, including the Jimmie Hale Mission and the Gideon Society. "Even at his weekly staff meetings in the store, he'd read the Bible," his daughter Jeannetta Forbes Miree remembers. "He was always giving gospel tracts to people, and I can remember being so embarrassed by that until I grew up and came to appreciate what he was doing."

Forbes first arrived in Birmingham in 1886, at the age of 19, and quickly discovered he couldn't afford a business license. "I looked for a job everywhere except in drug stores, banks and saloons," Forbes wrote later, "but nobody seemed to need me." Finally he met the manager of Caldwell Ice and Coal Company who was paying one man $7 per week to cut ice and another man $5 to deliver it. Forbes offered to do both jobs for $10 per week and got the position.

Three weeks later, a local music dealer named Gilbert Carter offered Forbes $15 per month plus board with the understanding that the salary would be increased to $30 if Forbes sold one organ per month. Forbes accepted the job, hitched up a heavy-duty wagon loaded with organs, and set out to sell them. The first month he sold five organs. His commissions multiplied, and soon Carter made Forbes a junior partner. Within a short time, Forbes would be establishing his own music business in the year 1889.

As Forbes Piano Company moved into the 20th century, the horse-drawn wagons gave way to big trucks emblazoned with the distinctive Forbes logo and packed with upright pianos. "People who were interested in a piano would stop the driver on the street and give him directions to their house," Nelson Forbes says. "it was unusual for an individual to buy anything but an upright, even though in 1935 you could buy a Monarch Grand Piano for as little as $275."

Despite his overall success, E.E. Forbes suffered the entrepreneur's inevitable financial setbacks. Predictably, one of the worst came with the Great Depression when people considered musical instruments too much of a luxury. The other setback might have been avoided had Forbes been less trusting. When he needed to make an extended trip out West, Forbes left his business in the hands of a trusted associate and when he returned he found himself shut out of the business he'd started.

As it turned out, fortune smiled on Forbes. "Poppa used to say losing that business was the best thing that ever happened to him," daughter Jeannetta Miree recalls. "He had to build the business back from scratch, and that's when my brothers got involved. They'd come in before school and sweep out the store and then come back after school to deliver pianos. For the first time, Forbes Piano Company truly became a family enterprise." Did he encourage Jeannetta to come into the business as well? "Oh, no," she laughs. "in those days we didn't think it appropriate for the women in the family to get too involved with the business."

Nevertheless, women became increasingly important to Forbes' success. He came to know piano and organ teachers throughout the state, who both bought his instruments and sheet music and referred their young students to him. Forbes installed a "concert hall" of sorts in his downtown Birmingham store and encouraged teachers to hold their recitals there. He concentrated on stocking only the highest-quality instruments, taking on the local Steinway franchise and adding the exclusive handmade Bosendorfer pianos and Martin guitars to his line. When he became concerned about the lack of music in education in the public schools, Forbes successfully lobbied to make music part of the state curriculum.

E.E. Forbes died in 1958 and still one hundred years after he opened his first music store, the business remains a close-knit family operation. Grandson French Forbes Jr. serves as president and chief executive officer. French Forbes, III, is vice president and general manager.

The Forbes family have watched a progression of piano styles develop over the years, from the square box and butterfly grand pianos to the electronic clavinovas and laptop keyboards of today. The sales people in the Birmingham and Montgomery stores are becoming increasingly sophisticated in computer generated music and electronics. The trend extends beyond pianos to affect all the instruments Forbes sells including guitars, banjos, organs and band instruments.

"One hundred years later, the music business is changing," French Forbes says, "but if Grandpoppa were here, I think he'd support our keeping up with the times. We fully expect to be here in 2089, too. There'll always be people who love music, and we'll always have products to enrich their lives."