The American Conservatory of Music (ACM) was a major American school of music founded in Chicago in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931). The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It developed the Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and had numerous student recitals. The oldest private degree-granting music school in the Midwestern United States, it was located in Chicago until 1991.
That year, 1991, its board of trustees—chaired by Frederic Wilbur Hickman—voted to close the institution, file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidate the assets, and dissolve the corporation. The conservatory closed at the end of the semester, in May 1991.
An organization based in Hammond, Indiana, uses the name "American Conservatory of Music" and identifies as the reorganized continuation of the Chicago institution. It also has a base in Belize that was founded in 1886 and is currently led by Theodora Schultze.
History
John James Hattstaedt, a musician who had taught piano in Detroit, Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri, moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1875. A center of railroad lines connecting to the East Coast and the resource-rich Great Lakes area, it was booming as a center of business, industry and culture. In 1886 he established the American Conservatory of Music, which became the oldest private, degree-granting school of music in the Midwest.
Hattstaedt was founding president and continued his direction until he became ill, six months before his death in 1931. He had expanded the school, attracting talented faculty and students. A Conservatory Symphony Orchestra was developed. In addition to the regular faculty, the conservatory attracted artists who conducted master classes in their specialties. In 1931 the conservatory had 3,000 students.
In the later 20th century, the conservatory appeared to suffer from its lack of affiliation with a university, which would have provided access to a wider circle of programs and donors. But it still served urban students and in 1977 had 2,000 students. At least in the early 1970s, accredited academic coursework was provided by the University of Chicago Extension which had classroom facilities in downtown Chicago's "Loop" district. After the late 1970s enrollment declined more markedly in the 1980s. Many other music schools were also under pressure and struggling financially. In 1986 ACM entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
Under the presidency of Vernon R. Nelson, the school moved to more modern quarters in the Stevens Building, 17 N. State Street, and attracted new faculty. He gained several major gifts from donors and foundations, including a $1 million grant from the Marquette Charitable Trust.
But by spring of 1991, enrollment was down to 90 full-time students, 60 fewer than expected. The conservatory announced it would close in May at the end of the semester. Chicago Musical College offered contracts to many of the conservatory faculty, and offered to have students enroll there to complete their studies and degrees.
Leadership
Conservatory presidents
1886–1931: John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931) 1935–1971: John Robert Hattstaedt (1887–1978), son of the founder, took over as president four years after his father's death. In between, his mother Kate Hattstaedt had served as president. 1971–1981: Leo Edward Heim (1913–1992) In 1981, the conservatory named him president emeritus. But in 1987–1991, he was instrumental in the attempt to save the conservatory after it had filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7. 1980–1987: Charles Ethelbert Moore (1930–1995), a classical pianist who later taught at DePaul University, was president when the conservatory filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 1987. Moore had joined the faculty in 1961 and became dean in 1972. 1987–1989: Vernon R. Nelson (born 1945), a graduate of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, temporarily saved the conservatory, extending its life until 1991. 1989–1990: Steven J. Nelson (no relation to Vernon) 1990–1991: Vernon R. Nelson
General directors
1900–1903: Frederick Grant Gleason
Deans of faculty
circa 1942: Heniot Levy
post-WWII to the late 1960s: Irwin Fischer
circa mid-1980s: E. Harvey Jewell, DMA
1972-1981: Leo Edward Heim
late 1980s: Carl L. Waldschmidt, PhD
Department deans
circa early 1900s: Adolf Weidig, associate director and dean of the department of theory