ANNISTON, Ala. — Howard Core Company, a wholesale manufacturer of student violins and string instruments, is located at 99 Symphony Way in Anniston. The company employs approximately 40 people and ships its products to an estimated 1,800 music retailers across North America. The Calhoun County Commission was not aware of this.

The company has operated from its current address since relocating to Anniston in 1977, drawn by lower operating costs and what a company representative described in historical documents as "favorable central shipping access." Howard Core has not left. The representative was not available to confirm whether favorable shipping access remains the assessment.

The address — Symphony Way, Anniston, Alabama — was noted by this reporter without further comment. It is, objectively, the address.

Howard Core manufactures instruments under several brand names and sells exclusively through music education retailers. It does not sell directly to the public, does not have a storefront, and does not advertise locally. A sign on the building identifies it as Howard Core Company. The sign is accurate.

Wendell Moss, director of the Calhoun County Economic Development Council, said that when reached with this information, he considered it "a significant asset to the regional manufacturing profile."

"That's the kind of story we should be telling," Moss said. "Forty jobs. Eighteen hundred retailers. Symphony Way. That is Calhoun County."

He was asked if he had been to Symphony Way.

"Not yet," Moss said. "But I intend to."

The company's warehouse, visible from the street, contains racks of violin cases. This is consistent with the manufacture of violins.