The Bush Temple Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art was an American conservatory of music based in Chicago with branches in Dallas and Memphis.

History

The Conservatory was founded in 1901 by William Lincoln Bush (1861–1941), of the Chicago-based piano manufacturer and retailer, Bush & Gerts Piano Company, a company that he co-founded as W. H. Bush and Company in 1885 with (i) his father, William H. Bush, and (ii) a noted, German-born piano-maker, John Gerts (1845–1913). Bush was treasurer of the Conservatory and also president of the Bush & Gerts Piano Company of Texas and the Bush Temple of Music in Dallas. Bush & Gerts had branches in Boston, Dallas, Austin, and Memphis. The conservatory flourished since its founding and was the first music conservatory in Chicago to provide dormitories for out-of-state students. In 1924, The Bush Conservatory was one of six institutions that founded the National Association of Schools of Music and Kenneth McPherson Bradley, president of the Bush Conservatory, served as its founding president from 1924 to 1928. The conservatory's name ceased to exist in 1932 because — months after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and under financial duress of the ensuing Great Depression — it merged with the Chicago Conservatory College.

Presidents

Chicago Temple Conservatory

Noted faculty and alumni

Faculty, Bush Conservatory, Chicago Faculty, Bush Conservatory, Memphis Alumni, Bush Conservatory, Chicago