DOB 11/15/1872

ANDREW M. WEINGARTNER— One of the handsomest and most completely equipped buildings of its kind in the United States is the "Home" built by the Bethlehem Steel Company for its military band of one hundred men. This organization came into being about three and one-half years ago, and is under the direction of Andrew M. Weingartner, a musical director of large and varied experience. The band is composed of men employed in the offices and works of the Bethlehem Steel Company, and the movement is in the line of recreation rather than work, the band being a side issue to the men from a financial standpoint.

The new building is essentially a combined clubhouse and practice hall, and the site chosen is a mile distant from the works and of ready access from all directions. Less than five hundred yards distant is the building in which a military band met one hundred and thirty years ago, which was perhaps the first permanent organization of its kind in America. The building was turned over to the band in February 1914, by Charles M. Schwab, who founded and takes a close personal interest in this organization. The organization has met with great popularity on all sides. A series of concerts has been given by the band to the employees of the Bethlehem Steel Company and their families, which were very well patronized, a single concert having been attended by two thousand persons. In the summer-time these concerts are given outdoors at various points in the community, which attract not only a large number of the company's employees, but many of the town founded and takes a close personal interest in this organization. The organization has met with great popularity on all sides. A series of concerts has been given by the band to the employees of the Bethlehem Steel Company and their families, which were very well patronized, a single concert having been attended by two thousand persons. In the summer-time these concerts are given outdoors at various points in the community, which attract not only a large number of the company's employees, but many of the towns-people as well. In the wintertime they are held indoors. The movement has been a most popular one from the standpoint of welfare of the company's employees, and that the band has proved a source of pleasure to them is evidenced by the large attendance on every occasion.

It is with this band and with the Lehigh Symphony Orchestra that Mr. Weingartncr has won much more than local fame as a leader and conductor. He has built up both band and orchestra from the initial organization and it is no exaggeration to say that both have won national reputation. The fame of one is the fame of the other, for neither organization knows no other leader who confines himself to their upbuilding.

Andrew M. Weingartner was born at Fünfkirchen (Five Churches) (also Pecs), a town of Hungary, capital of the county of Haranya, one hundred and five miles from Budapest, October 15, 1872. This city existed in the time of the Romans, and at the close of the Middle Ages was the seat of a university. There he was educated in the common branches, but later he took courses in music and was graduated from Budapest and Arad Conservatory. He became a skilled performer and leader, and when performing his years of military duty was assistant director of the Fifty-second Regiment of Infantry, stationed at Budapest. In 1896 he came to the United States, and at once located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His first position in Bethlehem was as a teacher at the head of the violin department at the Moravian Seminary and College for Women. He remained with that institution for eighteen years. During that period he also devoted himself to the practice of his profession and became interested in every department of the city's musical life. As a teacher of the violin he had few equals in the valley, but of late years he has had little time for private pupils. In 1907 he organized the Lehigh Valley Symphony Orchestra, later the Bethlehem Symphony Orchestra, an organization of sixty pieces, all local musicians, splendidly trained and still conducted by Professor Weingartner. The orchestra is enthusiastically supported by Charles M. Schwab and has won a secure place in the heart of music lovers. In 1910 he organized the Bethlehem Steel Band, which has grown to a well-trained band of one hundred pieces, the performers all recruited from the plant of the Bethlehem Steel Company, and the especial pride of that company. While these two organizations now take practically all his time. Professor Weingartner for four seasons was in charge of the music department of the Pennsylvania State Chautauqua Society at Mount Gretna. He has also been actively helpful in the many musical festivals of the Moravian church and identified with a great deal of the musical life of his city. He married, in October 1898, at Bethlehem, Gertrude E. Ungerer, daughter of Jacob and Gertrude (Shoenen) Ungerer of Bethlehem, her parents both deceased. They are the parents of a daughter, Hermine, married Howard H. McHose, a graduate of Cornell University, 1916, now a mechanical engineer in the employ of the Bethlehem Steel Company. They are the parents of a son, Lucius H. McHose, born May 1, 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Weingartner are also the parents of a son, Andre R. Weingartner, now a student at the Moravian Preparatory School.