Karl M. Wappler

1908 - 2002  (94 years)

• Name	Karl M. Wappler
  Born	21 Apr 1908	, Germany   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Business	21 Queen St. S., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Wappler Music Store
  Immigration	1924	, Canada
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-195304
  Died	Nov 2002	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Buried	Saint Peter's Lutheran Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Person ID	I195304	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	Walter Wappler
  Family ID	F15042	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Berta Gaca,   b. 1928,   d. 23 Oct 2017, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 89 years)
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F58958	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Hedwig Neumann,   b. 27 Jan 1910, , Germany ,   d. 1963, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 52 years)
  Children	1. Alfred Wappler,   b. 1932,   d. 1969, Scarborough, York Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 37 years)
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F59074	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  One-Man Music Store Success for 40 Years By HENRY KOCH Record Business Editor The kazoo and mouth organ are still the best selling little instruments in music stores after more than 40 years. That's the observation of Karl Wappler, proprietor of Wappler's music store, 21 Queen St. S., and "dean" of the music merchants in this area. Mr. Wappler recalls when kazoos sold for a nickel and mouth organs for 25 cents. "They've gone up in price four times in the more than four decades." ONE of the biggest changes in the music business in the last 10 years has been the tremendous influx of Japanese-made instruments, including violins. Mr. Wappler believes they are leading or close contenders with the United States for the middle-price range. And as an instrument supplier for Canadian stores, Britain is passing out of the picture, except for certain types of band instruments, he said. THE Japanese influx has also cut in hard on instrument imports from traditional sources like Germany and Czechoslovakia. At one time, he recalled, all the metronomes came from France, Germany or Switzerland. Now the Japanese have introduced a "very fine" economical model. Mr. Wappler has been supplying sheet music and books for many prominent teachers here for years. Sheet music has jumped from about 35 cents a copy when he started in business to $1. BORN in Germany near Robert Schumann's home town of Zwickau, Saxony, Mr. Wappler came to Kitchener with his parents in 1924 when he was 16. He worked at various jobs for three years before joining his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wappler in the music store business in the Dietrich block, 170 King St. E. He was on his own a few years later when his mother passed away. After two other King Street East locations, he moved to the present quarter 18 years ago. A ONE-MAN operation for almost 40 years, Mr. Wappler believes there's a place for the small retailer. He's seen many larger music store businesses start and fold over the years. There were only four music merchants in Kitchener when he started. Today there are eight. In addition, four music studios sell instruments and supplies. But competition doesn't seem to worry the veteran merchant. "I welcome it." KITCHENER and the music business has been good to him. He recalls coming off the train in 1924 and the conductor telling a group of people that Kitchener is the "best little town in Canada." "I didn't know it at the time, but the conductor was right. After all, it has allowed me to raise a family of three sons and a daughter. And it has given us everything we need." The fact that he is an accomplished musician himself and can play music for customers on the store piano has been an asset to Mr. Wappler. HIS most famous customers over the years, incidentally, have been Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Edward Johnson, the late general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Walter Susskind, former conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Kitchener-Waterloo Record

  
  

• Sources

  [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/81135587/karl-m.-wappler.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 21 Apr 1908 - , Germany Immigration - 1924 - , Canada Died - Nov 2002 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Saint Peter's Lutheran Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth