Chandler’s Band is the second oldest continuously operating professional band in the United States. At the age of seventeen, Jacob S. Paine (1810-1856) founded the first organized band in Portland in 1827, named “The Portland Band.” By 1843, band members recruited New Hampshire musician Daniel Chandler (1818-1902) to direct the band.
Chandler's Band of Portland in 1898. The director is Philip Robinson.
The members pictured are front row, from left, John Melia, flute and piccolo; Clarence Merriman, oboe; clarinets, David Willard, John Leighton, Charles Hurd, A.W. Whittier, and Horace E. Mills.
Second row, from left, are Edward Webb, baritone; cornets Fred Chipman, Ira W. Davis, Howard Babb, Charles Brooks, and Edward Blanchard.
Third row, from left, are B flat basses, Harry Green, Samuel Guimond, and Woodbury Harrington; horns, A.W. Cole, James Bain, and Charles Richards; trombones F. O. Welcome, Nathaniel Blanchard, and Bernard Greely; Fred Bradford, bass drum; and George Felt and Edward Beals, tenor drums.
Members of Chandler's Band in Portland in 1892. The bandmaster is William E. Chandler, son of the band's longtime leader, Daniel H. Chandler, who is standing under the "D" on the drum.
Other band members are, front, from left, J.N. Jacobson, Philip E. Robinson, Frank Chipman, H.E. Mills, Ernest Haskell, Ernest C. Gatley, Phineas J. Willy, Edward C. Webb, Arthur Cole, Daniel H. Chandler, Edward G. Blanchard, Charles M. Brooks, James A. Bain, I.F. Moore, and Charles G. Richards.
Back row, from left, are David W. Willard, Joseph Freeman, Frank O. Wellcome, John Woodbury, Enos A. Blanchard, W. P. Harrington, Walter Thomas, Daniel Skillings, Frank Perkins, Ira. M. Davis, Eugene C. Lesser, and John Fagan.
Members of the W. E. Chandler Band of Portland at Kennebunk on August 27, 1910.
William E. Chandler was the son of Daniel Chandler, long-time bandmaster of the Portland Band, which was renamed Chandler's Band. William E. Chandler played with that band, before breaking off and beginning his own band.
Members of W.E. Chandler's Portland Band pose with their instruments at the German Picnic at Long Island in August 1912. The clarinetist is Leroy Nason.
Wood Harrington and Harry Webb play sousa horns circa 1897. Woodbury P. Harrington was a professional musician for 40 years and also served as City Clerk of South Portland. They were members of Chandler's Band.
