Columbia Phonograph Company

The Columbia Phonograph Company was established by a group licensed by the American Graphophone Company to sell graphophones in Washington, D.C. It was also licensed by the North American Phonograph Company to sell phonographs in the same area. Columbia Phonograph Company acquired American Graphophone Company in 1893. (The two companies were, in effect, consolidated, the American Graphophone Co. concerning itself with development and manufacturing and Columbia Phonograph handling distribution and sales.)

1886 - American Graphophone Company established by Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter to manufacture and sell graphophones in the United States and Canada under licence from the Volta Graphophone Co.
1889 - Columbia Phonograph Company established, licensed by the American Graphophone Company to sell graphophones in Washington, D.C., and by the North American Phonograph Company to sell phonographs in the same area.
1893 - Columbia Phonograph Company acquires American Graphophone Company
1898 - The Gramophone Co. Ltd. (England) established in London by William Barry Owen and E. Trevor Williams to manufacture gramophones and records in Europe.
1906 - American Graphophone Company reorganized and renamed as Columbia Graphophone Company to reflect its identity with Columbia. (this name-change might even have referred to Columbia Phonograph Company itself)

1917 - British Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd. was registered, but with its shares held by its US parent company, the American Columbia Graphophone Company.
1918 - America's Columbia Graphophone Company's manufacturing arm (essentially the former American Graphophone Company) undergoes a name change, this time to Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company.
1922 - British nationals buy out Columbia Phonograph Company's shares of British Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd. (which since ca. 1898 had been a branch of the Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company — source).
1925 - Louis Sterling of Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd. acquires the its former parent Columbia Phonograph Company for $2.5m (here's why he bought it, pg. 95), company reorganized/renamed as Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc.*)

1931 - The Gramophone Co. Ltd. and Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd. merge to form a new company, Electric and Musical Industries (EMI); anti-trust laws compel EMI to sell off its American Columbia operation.
1931–1938 - after a series of brief acquisitions by others (incl. Grigsby-Grunow Co. and ARC) between 1931–38, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) bought over Columbia for US$750,000, renaming it Columbia Recording Corporation.
Dec 1938 - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) acquires ARC (all assets including Columbia Records) for US$750,000, renaming it Columbia Recording Corporation.

* renamed Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc. after the 1925 takeover by the UK Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd. eg images at http://musicbrainz.org/release/34d29a3c-d264-4f9d-bcb9-71098bfc4397/cover-art (a 1928 release)
"1924 (sic) - Louis Sterling of the Columbia Phonograph (sic) Co., Ltd. of London, bought out Columbia and reorganized it." - source
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Beginning in February of 1888, until the reorganization in 1893, its offices were located at 627 E NW Street, Washington, DC. It was incorporated in West Virginia on January 22, 1889.

Its North American Phonograph Company sales territory was the District of Columbia. It also had a separate distribution agreement with American Graphophone Company, with a sales territory of the District of Columbia, Delaware, and Maryland.

In July 1891, Thomas A. Edison wrote to each of the 34 North American Phonograph Company territorial labels that the Edison Phonographic Works now had the ability to offer phonograph duplication services, something which had not until then been possible to accomplish without accoustically copying cylinders (resulting in very low quality duplicates). In a report dated June 14, 1892, eight of the territorial labels had confirmed they were producing their own cylinders. This label was one of those eight, reporting that they had begun local cylinder production in 1889.

Please check that the date makes sense for releases assigned to this label; releases after 1893-05 should be under Columbia Records, not here.

As of 1890:
President: Edward D. Easton
Secretary: R. F. Cromelin
Treasurer: W. H. Smith

As of 1891:
President: Edward D. Easton
Vice-President: William Herbert Smith
Secretary: R. F. Cromelin

As of 1893:
President: Edward D. Easton
Vice-President: William Herbert Smith
Secretary: R. F. Cromelin
Board of Directors: Edward D. Easton, William Herbert Smith, Chapin Brown, Benjamin Durfee, Charles H. Ridenour