This project will commemorate the life and career of the awesome Cleveland composer, Anthony Louis Maresh (1877–1954) through an online concert of his work. As of now, there is no information about his work online. Downloadable PDFs will detail his life’s work, alongside pictures of his manuscripts and poetry. I have set his poems to music and arranged his solo piano pieces for violin accompanied by four hands on piano. The concert will be around 40 minutes and present a piece of Cleveland history that has been missing.
I was first familiarized with his music after receiving a book of his solo piano music Bohemian Dance Album Number 4 that he published himself in 1922. Maresh owned and operated a piano shop and publishing house on East 55th in Cleveland for over 50 years. After recognizing the quality of his work, I pored over his papers that are kept at the Western Reserve Historical Society. This included handwritten pages, newspaper clippings, advertisements for his business, an obituary, and ephemera. I also took notes from several books on the history of the Czech community in Cleveland.
BIOGRAPHY
A. L.‘Tony’ Maresh lived on 149 Willson Avenue in Slovak Village with his mother Jospehine (‘Julia’), father Matthew, sister Sophia, brother Charles, and grandfather. They were the first wave of Bohemian immigrants who came in 1866 and were farmers; a subsequent wave of immigrants came around 1900 and primarily worked as machine workers during the Industrial Revolution.
Shortly before the turn of the century, Maresh moved to 2885 East 55th street and opened a piano shop down the street. Maresh & Son Piano Co. was located a block from the hub of Slovak Village, the city’s largest suburb at the time. The exact address was 3305 East 55th, Cleveland 27, Ohio; hours: Open to 9:00p.m.; telephone: Vulcan 3-4500; slogan: “Since 1897”.
Maresh and his son, Matthew (named after his grandfather) sold keyboard instrument: Minshall Electric Organs, Piano “Organo” Combinations, Story & Clark Spinets, and the Leffargue Piano line; the latter was incorporated in 1904 with Mr. Josepth Oktavec as president (a Slovak businessman).
Maresh was a concert pianist, composer, political leader, and businessman. For three consecutive terms, he was President of Cleveland Music Trades Association. He fought and won for several local and international including making outdoor loudspeakers a public nuisance, maintaining national prices for pianos (versus hiding “carrying fees” in the ticket price), making it illegal for public school music teachers to sell musical instruments directly to their students, and legally preventing public utility companies from selling musical appliances like radios, speakers, and record players to its subscribers. All of these legislations helped promote sales from music shops likes his own.
He also proved very active in his community, as a member St. Vaclav’s Church (later renamed St. Wenceslis) led by Cleveland’s first Czech priest, by Rev. Antonin Krasny. It was built in 1867 on the corner of East 35th Place S.E. and Burwell St., and has since been razed for parking. Maresh was also a member of the League for Human Rights, located at 508 Chester- Ninth Building, Cleveland 57, which was led by Vic Donahey and Robert A. Taft. Finally, Maresh was president of the Lincoln Association of Ohio; he boasted the nation’s largest collection of President Lincoln memorabilia, and regularly held Republican Party meetings at his piano shop.
In 1927 he retired from sales and moved to his 212 acre nursery in Hudson, Ohio. He opened Lone Pine Farm Floral Gardens and maintained eight farms. However, he encountered legal troubles with his neighbors by using T.N.T. to blast man-made lakes (a “modern” practice at the time) and opened back up his piano store a year later. In 1930, he moved to 16717 Kinsman Road in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He continued to maintain a farm called “Silver Springs” on the west side of Som Center Road near Cannon Road between North Miles and South Miles Roads. He was buried in Woodland Cemetery. After his father’s death, Matthew F. Maresh D.D.S. opened a dentist’s office on the second floor of the piano shop. The building was fitted with several sound-proofed rooms in the basement where piano lessons were held. Pianos were also made there on site. The building is currently “Good Times” bar, a Steeler’s fan hangout owned by ‘Bob’ and ‘Sheila’.