As another ad headed 'Pianos! Pianos! Pianos!' put it, 'Remember-you can buy any make of Piano at Goggan's Music Store at ten percent below Factory prices.'Ī branch was opened in San Antonio about 1883, and the firm's name changed to Thomas Goggan & Bros., when Goggan took into business a younger brother, Mike, born about 1854 in County Kerry, Ireland. But the firm did not rely solely on the prestige of name brands for sales. Goggan & Bro.-was listed in ads as being the authorized dealer for Knabe as well as Steinway and Sons pianos, 'The name of either being a guarantee to themselves and need no puffing,' Goggan wrote about the high quality of his merchandise.

By 1870 he had taken into business a brother, John, and the firm-now called Thos. Although the Galveston store remained the company headquarters, Goggan eventually established sales branches over much of the state, shipping pianos and other musical instruments by wagon and ox-team. An extensive advertiser, he also circulated his company name throughout the 1870s by sending the latest sheet music hits to major Texas newspapers such as the Dallas Herald, which in turn would announce the titles to the public and thank the Goggan firm for its patronage. In 1868 Goggan was the authorized agent for the U.S. Persons wishing music or musical instruments cannot do better than to give him a call.' Similar ads list Goggan as a retail agent for Peters, Webb and Company pianos, Mason and Hamlin organs, and the fine line of Chickering and Sons pianos. Goggan, Dealer in Sheet Music, Music Books, and all kinds of Musical Instruments…has a very extensive stock of goods in his line. The company motto was 'Everything in Music.' According to what may be his first advertisement in the Dallas Herald in 1866, 'Thos. He was married to wife Annie, according to the 1880 census, and they had six children that lived to adulthood. Edwards University in Austin and Springhill College in Mobile, Alabama.

Goggan moved to Texas with a complete stock of musical instruments and by 1866 opened his original retail store at the corner of East Market and Twenty-second Street in Galveston. The historic firm of Thomas Goggan and Brothers of Galveston and San Antonio (and other branch offices) was the oldest and largest music house in the state and arguably the best-known Texas piano company.

Ab chase piano serial number