American Conservatory of Music

The American Conservatory of Music (ACM) was a major American school of music founded in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931). The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It was located in Chicago until 1991 when its Board of Trustees — chaired by Frederic Wilbur Hickman (b. 1927) — voted to close the institution, file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidate the assets, and dissolve the corporation. An organization in Hammond, Indiana and Belize, currently uses the name "American Conservatory of Music" and identifies itself as the reorganized continuation of the Chicago institution.