About Us

Zanesville has a long and rich band history dating back to 1820, when Charles Hill formed the first reed and string band. Throughout the 1800s, numerous bands thrived in the community, the most notable of which was the Bauer Band. Led by John Bauer, the Bauer Band flourished between the mid-1800s and early 1900s and was well-known throughout Ohio, as well as neighboring states. Notable high-profile performances of the Bauer Band include the opening of the suspension bridge in Wheeling in 1849 and the funeral of Ohio-born Civil War General William Sherman in St. Louis in 1891. After John Bauer died in 1912, the Bauer Band was taken over by the American Rolling Mill Company and renamed the Armco Band. During this time, the 7^th Regiment Band, part of the 7^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Spanish-American War, was also active in Zanesville and was the chief rival of the Armco Band. It was the merging of the Armco Band and the 7^th Regiment bands in 1923 that created the Memorial Band.

This new Memorial Band was formed to play summer concerts in Zanesville that were funded by bequests of Eaton S. Drone and John Hoge. These early concerts took place twice weekly, in McIntire Park and Putnam Hill Park. Over the last 100 years, the Memorial Band has performed hundreds, if not thousands, of free concerts for the Zanesville community at various locations throughout the city, including several of the city’s parks, the Helen Purcell Home, the Muskingum County Home, the Muskingum County Fairgrounds, Memorial Hall, Zane Trace Commemoration, and the banks of the Muskingum River. Notable out-of-town performances of the Memorial Band include an appearance at the Ohio State Fair in 1932 and a concert in 1943 for wounded veterans at Fletcher General Hospital in Cambridge, a hospital built by the U.S. Army during World War II to serve the war’s sick and wounded service men and women. The current home of the Memorial Band is Zane’s Landing Park, where it has performed since the mid-1980s, with support from the City of Zanesville.

With a vision for passing along the community band tradition to future generations, the Memorial Band launched a high school honors band program in 2005. The honors band is comprised of select area high school students and traditionally performs on the first concert of the season. The Memorial Band continues to receive support from the Eaton S. Drone and John Hoge funds, in addition to other local grant sources. These grants and the generosity of individual and business patrons allow the Memorial Band to enthusiastically fulfill its primary mission—to provide free summer concerts to the Zanesville community.