State Historic Society of Missouri collection

Drawn to Missouri by Gottfied Duden's letters describing an idyllic existence, Franz Schwarzer and his wife, Josephine, left Austria in the spring of 1864 in search of a tranquil life along the banks of the Missouri River. Schwarzer, born in 1828, envisioned himself as a large landowner with nothing to do but ride over his estate supervising his workers. The couple settled on a farm near Holstein in Warren County. But Schwarzer, who recited Faust while atop his mule, was no farmer, and the muddy Missouri was far from the Rhine.

In 1866 the Schwarzers sold their land and moved to Washington, where Schwarzer took up wood carving, designing elaborate pulpits and altars. He also returned to zither playing, which he had mastered in Vienna before coming to America, and began tinkering with the instrument's design.

Encouraged by friends, Schwarzer entered three of his zithers in the International Exhibition at Vienna in 1873, winning the Gold Medal of Progress award. This world-wide recognition established him as "King of Zither Manufacturers," and the next decade was filled with success. Over six thousand instruments, more than half the total production by the factory, were crafted between 1885 and 1904.

Every part of a Schwarzer zither was cut by hand. His workforce included skilled craftsmen and apprentices. At its peak, the factory employed twenty-five workers, who earned ten dollars a week. Schwarzer took a fatherly interest in his workers, and the workdays were often interrupted by birthday celebrations and other festivities.

His most popular instrument was the concert zither with thirty-two strings. He made nearly three thousand of these models, which varied in price from $19 to $450 apiece, depending on the decoration and type of wood used.

Schwarzer considered his instruments to be works of art, inlaying them with silver, gold, ivory, and mother-of-pearl. His finest models sold for $600 to $1,000. Top-of-the-line instruments were inlaid with designs consisting of thousands of tiny mother-of-pearl pieces, some of the workmanship taking a year to complete.

Schwarzer died in February 1904, and although the factory remained open for several more years, his death was symbolic of the ending of an era as German customs, including zither playing, gave way to American ones. The factory was torn down in the early 1950's.

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