State St. Train Station 1889 ......and......Monument Square 1914
State St. Train Station 1889 ......and......Monument Square 1914
Our roots date back to 1877 when Adolph Schulte and his brothers provided "music in the park" for Racine area residents. In 1923, brother Henry Schulte approached the Racine City Council and succeeded in getting an annual appropriation of funds to organize a "city band" and officially entertain the Racine citizenry. The name of that first ensemble, the Racine Park Board Band. For 44 years the Park Board Band served its community well, providing over 300 programs of fine concert band music.
In 1967, the late conductor, John Opferkuch, presided over a name change to the Racine Municipal Band. Affectionately known as the "muni band", the Municipal Band expanded the tradition of concerts in the park as well as establishing a year 'round series of concerts.
More recently however (1996), to better define our role in the community and to more accurately describe the type of music our audiences are demanding, we changed our name to the Racine Concert Band.