Reuter Organ Company New Corporate Headquarters

Organbuilding in the United States and Canada is a thriving art practiced in hundreds of shops throughout the continent. Emerging from decades of stylistic extremes, organbuilders are combining a wealth of knowledge from the past with new technologies to meet contemporary design challenges. North American builders, compelled by a unique spirit of cooperation and openness, are successfully raising the artistic standards of this time-honored craft. (American Institute of Organbuilders, descriptive statement.)

The organ has occupied a prominent place in the musical culture of Canada since the days of the first European settlement, chiefly because of its close connection with church music and the ambitions of many congregations. The first organs, brought from France, were installed in Québec City around 1660. An anecdotal report mentions the acquisition by a Halifax church of a Spanish instrument that had been seized on board a ship in 1765.1 Following a period in which organs continued to be imported from England and France, organbuilding began as early as 1723 and flourished mainly in Québec and Ontario from the mid-19th century onward.2 By the second half of the 19th century, organ building had become a relatively important industry in Eastern Canada, where companies had acquired sufficient expertise to compete in the international market, including the United States.3

The development of organbuilding in Canada proceeded through several phases, beginning with early builders.4  The first known organbuilder was Richard Coates, who arrived in Canada from England in 1817; he supplied mainly barrel organs to several small churches in Ontario. Joseph Casavant, the first Canadian-born builder, installed his first instrument in the Montréal region in 1840; he transmitted his skills to his sons, who later established the company that achieved world-wide recognition. The arrival from the United States of Samuel Russell Warren in 1836 marked the introduction of professional-calibre organbuilding into the country. His family firm had produced about 350 pipe organs by 1869; it was sold in 1896 to D. W. Karn (see below). Other prominent organ builders included Napoléon Déry (active 1874-1889), Eusèbe Brodeur (a successor to Joseph Casavant in 1866), and Louis Mitchell (active 1861-1893) in Québec, and Edward Lye (active 1864-1919) in Ontario.

The years 1880-1950 were marked by unprecedented growth in organbuilding, beginning with the establishment of Casavant Frères in 1879 in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec. The Canadian Pipe Organ Company/Compagnie d'orgues canadiennes was established in 1910 by some former Casavant staff, also in Saint-Hyacinthe (when the firm closed in 1931 its equipment was acquired by Casavant). Prominent Ontario builders included the firms of Richard S. Williams (founded 1854 in Toronto), Denis W. Karn (commenced 1897 in Woodstock), C. Franklin Legge (founded 1915 in Toronto, joined by William F. Legge 1919, who later established his own company in Woodstock around 1948), and the Woodstock Pipe Organ Builders (an organization of skilled craftsmen in that Ontario town, 1922-1948). Several smaller, independent builders were active for a time in Ontario, the Maritime provinces, and Manitoba (late 1880s). British Columbia, on the other hand, seems to have had no indigenous organbuilders, for instruments were imported from the United States or from England on ships that sailed around Cape Horn; one of the earliest arrived in Victoria from England by this route in 1861.

In the early 1950s some organbuilders, encouraged by younger organists who had played European instruments, as well as the increasing availability of sound recordings of these organs, turned to classical principles of organbuilding to counter what they perceived as the colorless sound palettes of Canadian organs of the 1930s. The return to earlier tonal aesthetics, inspired by the so-called 17th-century "Baroque organ," found expression in the construction of bright-toned, tracker-action instruments. The "new orthodoxy" was enthusiastically assimilated by Casavant Frères and by a number of independent builders in the same region, some of whom had received their training in Europe. Karl Wilhelm, Hellmuth Wolff, André Guilbault and Guy Thérien, Fernand Létourneau, Gabriel Kney, and Gerhard Brunzema were prominent in this movement, and many of them are still in business. Their accomplishments, along with the activities of other known organbuilders of the 1990s, will be described in chronological order, according to their founding dates, in the remainder of this article.5

Casavant Frères, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec (1879)

Casavant is the oldest continuing name in organbuilding in North America. Joseph Casavant (1807-1874), the father of the founders of the company, began his organbuilding career while still a Latin student at a Québec religious college, where he completed an unfinished organ from France with the help of a classic treatise on organbuilding. By the time he retired in 1866, after 26 years in business in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, he had installed organs in 17 churches in Québec and Ontario, but none of them survive. His sons, Joseph-Claver Casavant (1855-1933) and Samuel-Marie Casavant (1850-1929), worked for Eusèbe Brodeur, their father's successor, for a few years. They opened their own factory in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, in 1879, following an extended tour of western Europe inspecting organs and visiting workshops; Claver had apprenticed briefly with a Versailles builder before the tour. In the early years the Casavant brothers were conservative in their tonal design, emulating the ensemble sound of the kind they had heard in old-world instruments that they had examined during their European tour. But from the outset the brothers were innovators, beginning with improvements in the electric operation of their organs in the 1890s. As their reputation spread beyond the cities and towns of their province, production increased steadily.

The company experienced difficult times in the 1930s due to economic conditions, much standardization, and repetitive tonal design. Production was curtailed during the years of World War II due to a shortage of materials, and the company manufactured many unit organs during this period. Later, new initiatives were undertaken by several imaginative artistic directors who served with the firm between 1958 and 1965: Lawrence Phelps from Aeolian-Skinner in the U.S.A.; and European-trained Gerhard Brunzema, Karl Wilhelm, and Hellmuth Wolff.

Most present-day Casavant organs exhibit a conventional design that retains both symphonic and modern elements in subtle synthesis. Casavant organs are recognized for their special tonal qualities and the way the individual stops are blended together into a chorus at all dynamic levels. Time-tested actions include tracker, electrically operated slider windchests, and electro-pneumatic (since 1892; tubular-pneumatic was last used in the mid-1940s). The company workshop has eight departments: metalworking, woodworking, mechanism, consoles, painting, racking, voicing, and assembly. Virtually all components are made in the workshop, including all flue and reed pipes (to 32-foot-length), reed shallots, windchests, consoles, keyboards and pedalboards, and casework, although specialized wood carving and gilding are done by outside artisans. A few electrical components, such as blowers, power-supply units, electromagnets, solid-state combination and coupling systems, and hardware, are purchased from world-wide suppliers. All visual designs are coordinated with their intended surroundings; there are no stock designs. Organs are completely assembled for rigorous testing and playing in preparation for on-time delivery.

The company resumed the construction of tracker-action instruments in 1961 after a lapse of about 55 years, producing 216 such organs since that date. By the end of 1998 the total output amounted to 3,775 organs of all sizes, and many of these have received enthusiastic testimonials from renowned recitalists over the years. Although sales were limited mainly to North America until World War II, Casavant organs now have been installed in churches, concert halls, and teaching institutions on five continents. The firm's largest instrument is a five-manual, 129-stop organ with two consoles installed in Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, in 1996. The great majority of the very large instruments have been installed in locations in the United States; the exception is the four-manual, 75-stop organ in Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, in 1987. The company also engages in renovation projects and additions to existing organs.

The key personnel include Pierre Dionne, President and Chief Operating Officer (from 1978), formerly Dean of Administration at the Business School of the University of Montréal; Stanley Scheer, Vice-President (1984), formerly Professor of Music and Head of the Department of Fine Arts at Pfeiffer University, Misenheimer, North Carolina, holds a Master of Music degree in organ performance from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey; Jean-Louis Coignet, Tonal Director (1981), a professionally trained physiologist with a doctorate from the Sorbonne, contributor to music journals, the most knowledgeable authority on the work of Cavaillé-Coll today, was formerly organ expert for the City of Paris; Jacquelin Rochette, Associate Tonal Director (1984), formerly Music Director of Chalmers-Wesley United Church, Québec City, holds a Master's degree in organ performance from Laval University, performs regularly on CBC radio, and has recorded works by several French composers for organ; Denis Blain, Technical Director (1986), with many years of practical experience in virtually all aspects of organbuilding, is in charge of research and development; Pierre Drouin, Chief Engineer, holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Laval University, introduced computer-assisted drafting, and supervises the design and layout of each organ. In 1998 the company had 85 full-time employees, many with more than 30 years of service with the company. All levels of management and production personnel function as a team.

Keates-Geissler Pipe Organs, Guelph, Ontario (1945)

The company was established in 1945 in London, Ontario, by Bert Keates (he came from England in his infancy) and relocated to Lucan, Ontario, in 1950. When it was incorporated in 1951 the assets of the Woodstock Pipe Organ Builders (formerly Karn-Warren) were purchased. The company moved to Acton, Ontario, in 1961, a more central location in the province. In 1969 the growing firm took over the business of the J. C. Hallman Company, a manufacturer of electronic instruments and pipe organs, when it discontinued making pipe organs (but not parts for them). For several years some organs were manufactured under the name of Keates-Hallman Pipe Organs.6 The company moved to Guelph, Ontario, in 1994.

Dieter Geissler was born in Dittelsdorf, Saxony, Germany, where he began his trade as a cabinetmaker. At the age of 14 he commenced his apprenticeship with Schuster & Sohn, Zitau, where he remained from 1946 to 1950. In 1951 he moved to Lübeck, West Germany, where he worked as a voicer with E. Kemper & Sohn for five years. In 1956 he moved to Canada to join Keates's staff. When Keates retired at the end of 1971 Dieter Geissler became president of the firm, which he purchased in 1972, and adopted the present company name in 1982. His son, Jens Geissler, joined the company in 1978.

Keates-Geissler organs are offered in all types of action and are custom built to any required size. Altogether, 147 new organs7 have been installed at locations in Canada, the United States (about 15), and Barbados, West Indies. The output includes a number of four- and five-manual instruments; the largest is a five-manual, 231-stop organ, installed in the First Baptist Church, Jackson, Mississippi, in 1992 (a compilation of its original 1939 E. M. Skinner instrument, a 1929 five-manual Casavant organ removed by Keates-Geissler in 1986 from the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, and some additional structures by the company). The firm has undertaken a substantial number of renovation, rebuilding, and reinstallation projects over the years, about 1,500 altogether, about 75 of these in the United States.

All wooden pipes are made in the factory, but metal pipes are made by Giesecke or Laukhuff in Germany to the company's scaling specifications; preliminary voicing is done in the factory before final voicing on-site. The windchests of electro-pneumatic instruments feature Pitman-chest action that includes some unique features to overcome the effects of extremes in temperature and humidity; the company is the only such manufacturer in Ontario and one of a few in Canada. Expandable electronic switching systems are designed and made in the factory from readily available components to facilitate replacement. Solid-state switching and multiple-memory combination actions are also manufactured. Console shells are handcrafted from solid wood in the factory; tracker touch is an available option. Keyboards are custom made to the company's specifications by Laukhuff, Germany, and blowers are acquired mainly from the same company. The company had four full-time employees in 1998; other part-time workers are hired as needed.  

Guilbault-Thérien, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec (1946)

This company originated with the Providence Organ Company, established in Saint-Hyacinthe in 1946. The partners, André Guilbault, whose father Maurice Guilbault had worked for Casavant, and Guy Thérien, a voicer from Casavant, joined forces in 1968 when the elder Guilbault retired. The present company name was adopted in 1979. When André Guilbault retired in 1992, Alain Guilbault (no relation) acquired an interest in the company.

At the outset the company manufactured electro-pneumatic instruments, but built its first mechanical-action instrument (Opus #1 in a new series), a two-manual, 7-stop organ, in 1970, immediately followed by several small one- and two-manual instruments. From 1974 onward the typical instruments were medium-size, two-manual organs. Larger instruments of three or four manuals began to appear with greater frequency after 1983, the largest being a four-manual, 45-stop organ installed in Grace Church, White Plains, New York, in 1989, the only installation in the United States to that time. While the tonal layout of the organs is mainly inspired by European sources, mainly French, the swell divisions of the larger instruments are sufficiently versatile to handle symphonic literature.

The output of new organs was about 55 to 1998, mainly in Québec and Ontario. The company's work has also involved the restoration and reconstruction of a similar number of Québec organs, mainly by Casavant, but including some of historical significance that are over a hundred years old by such early builders as Napoléon Déry and Louis Mitchell. 

Several compact discs featuring performances by Québec organists on instruments manufactured by the company, or on reconstructed historical Casavant instruments, have been released in the past decade.8

Principal Pipe Organ Company, Woodstock, Ontario (1961)

The company was established by Chris Houthuyzen in Woodstock, Ontario, a town with a continuing tradition of organbuilding. The founder served his apprenticeship and received further training in The Netherlands before coming to Canada. Small to medium-sized instruments, employing electro-pneumatic action, are the company's specialty, with a contemporary emphasis on the guiding principles of Dutch organbuilding. A total of 119 installations have been completed over the years; the largest was a four-manual, 58-rank instrument. Wooden pipes are made in the shop, but most metal pipes come from suppliers in the United States; their scaling is dictated by the acoustics and intended use of the organ. Chests, reservoirs, ducting, consoles, and casework are manufactured on the premises. Much of the company's work involves rebuilding and maintaining organs, as well as the installation and servicing of church bells, including cast and electronic carillons on behalf of the Verdin Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. The company had three employees in 1998.

Gabriel Kney, London, Ontario (1962-1996)

Gabriel Kney was born in Speyer, Germany; his father was a master cabinetmaker and amateur bassoonist, and his mother was a singer. He served his apprenticeship in organbuilding with Paul Sattel in Speyer (1945-1951), where he assisted in the restoration of historic, sometimes war-damaged, instruments, along with new organ construction. Since the era was a time of transition from the "Romantic" style of organbuilding to the concepts of Orgelbewegung, this trend provided him with the opportunity to learn about and participate in the building of organs of both concepts. Concurrently he was a student of organ literature, liturgical music, harmony, and improvisation at The Institute of Church Music in the same city.

He emigrated to Canada in 1951 and joined the Keates Organ Company in Lucan, Ontario, as an organbuilder and voicer. In 1955 he was co-founder, with John Bright, of the Kney and Bright Organ Company in London, Ontario, with the intention of specializing in tracker instruments. The timing was premature, for only a few musicians and teaching institutions found such instruments of interest; with the exception of two teaching organs of tracker design supplied to a college in the United States, most of the early organs were requested to have electric key action. In 1962 Gabriel Kney established his own company in London, Ontario, where, with enlarged facilities and a staff of six to eight, he specialized in mechanical-action instruments. Organs from the period between 1962 and 1966 were designed in the historic manner of Werkprinzip, with organ pipes enclosed in a free-standing casework and separated into tonal sections. The tonal design of smaller instruments followed 18th-century North European practices, with some tuned in unequal temperaments of the period.

Altogether, his shops produced 128 organs since 1955; the largest in Canada being the four-manual, 71-stop, tracker-action instrument with two consoles in Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto. Since the early 1970s almost three-quarters of the installations were in locations in the United States, several of these in large universities. Occasionally maintenance and historic instrument restoration projects were undertaken.

Wooden pipes were made in the shop, with the exception of very large pipes made to specifications by suppliers in the United States, England, or Germany. Metal pipes also were made to order by independent pipemakers in Germany or Holland. Some console components, such as keyboards, were obtained from suppliers in the United States, England, or Germany. Electric switching devices came from the United States in earlier years, later from England. Blowers were imported from Laukhuff in Germany, Meidinger in Switzerland, or White in the United States. All casework and chest construction was done in the shop.

In 1996 Gabriel Kney retired from active organbuilding and closed his company. Since then he has acted as a consultant to churches seeking advice on organ purchase, restoration, and tonal redesign, and sometimes to other organbuilders.

Karl Wilhelm, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec (1966)

Karl Wilhelm was born in Lichtenthal, Rumania, and grew up in Weikersheim, Germany. At the age of 16 he entered apprenticeship with A. Laukhuff, Weikersheim (1952-1956), followed by working experience with W. E. Renkewitz, Nehren/Tübingen (1956-1957), and Metzler & Söhne, Dietikon, Switzerland (1957-1960). After moving to Canada, in 1960 he joined Casavant Frères, where he established the department and trained several employees for the production of modern mechanical organs; while there he was responsible for the design and manufacture of 26 organs. In 1966 he established his own firm, first in Saint-Hyacinthe, then moved to new facilities in Mont Saint-Hilaire, near Montréal, Québec, in 1974. For a while he was assisted by Hellmuth Wolff, now an independent builder (see below).

Karl Wilhelm specializes in building mechanical organs of all sizes, 147 to date, of which 69 are located in the United States and two in Seoul, Korea. Of the total output, 43 are one-manual instruments, 93 are two-manual instruments of medium size, and 11 are three-manual instruments--the largest is a 50-stop instrument in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Toronto, installed in 1983. Two have detached consoles, and four have combination actions with electric stop-action; all instruments have mechanical key action. The design and layout of instruments adhere to the principles of the classical tradition of German and French organbuilding. Three-manual instruments feature a large swell division, suitable for the performance of Anglican Church music and the Romantic repertoire.

All wooden pipes are made on the premises, along with almost one-half of the metal pipes that are handmade of a tin-lead alloy; other metal pipes are imported from Germany. Scaling and voicing are done in the classical open-toe manner for natural speech and mellow blend. Windchests and bellows, consoles and action, and cases are manufactured in a 9,000 sq. ft. workshop. Organs may have cases of contemporary design, or perhaps are more ornate with moldings and hand-carved pipe shades that are compatible with the architecture of the location. Blowers are acquired from Laukhuff, Germany; miscellaneous parts come from other suppliers. The firm does not engage in rebuilding or renovation but services and tunes its own instruments throughout North America. In 1998 the firm had five employees, all trained by Karl Wilhelm.

Wolff & Associés, Laval, Québec (1968)

Hellmuth Wolff was born in Zurich, Switzerland. While a teenager he apprenticed with Metzler & Söhne, Dietikon, Switzerland (1953-1957); in his spare time he built his first organ, a four-stop positiv instrument. He received additional training with G. A. C. de Graff, Amsterdam (1958-1960) and with Rieger Orgelbau, Schwarzach, Austria (1960-1962). In the United States (1962-1963) he worked with Otto Hofmann, in Austin, Texas, and Charles Fisk, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. After moving to Canada he worked with Casavant Frères (1963-1965) in its newly established tracker-action department, and then with Karl Wilhelm (1966-1968), with whom he had worked at Casavant. In the interval 1965-1966 he returned briefly to Europe to work as a designer and voicer with Manufacture d'orgues Genève, in Geneva. Besides playing the piano and singing in choirs wherever he went, he completed his musical training by taking organ lessons with Win Dalm in Amsterdam and later with Bernard Lagacé in Montréal.

In 1968 he opened his own business in Laval, Québec, with one employee; his present associate, James Louder, started his apprenticeship with Hellmuth Wolff in 1974, after training in classical guitar and English. The first large project undertaken in that year was the construction of a three-manual, 26-stop instrument at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, New York City; this was one of the city's first modern tracker-action organs and it incorporated features not yet seen in North America. In 1977 the company moved to a new shop; the firm became incorporated in 1981, and James Louder became a partner in 1988.

Hellmuth Wolff has been part of the Organ Reform in North America since the movement came to this continent in the early 1960s. He specializes in mechanical-action instruments, large and small, whose design is inspired by French or German classical traditions, although other styles are represented that are designed to accommodate a wide range of organ literature. A total of 42 organs have been manufactured; about one-half of these were installed in locations in the United States. While a few small residence or practice instruments have been built, the majority are two-manual organs, in addition to eight three-manual organs, and one four-manual, 50-stop/70-rank instrument installed in Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1989.9 Other related activities include rebuilding, restoration, and maintenance work, chiefly in the Montréal area.

Wooden pipes are made on the premises, while metal pipes are acquired from several pipemakers in Canada, U.S.A., and Europe; some reeds are made there, also. Windchests, consoles, and cases are also manufactured on site. Blowers are acquired from Meidinger and Laukhuff in Germany. Several installations feature both mechanical stop-action and capture systems; the first was built in 1977 for the Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist, in New York City; it was probably the first such system in North America. Both sequencers and traditional multilevel capture systems are used. There were eight employees in 1998.

Hellmuth Wolff, along with his associate, James Louder, have contributed to symposiums and written publications on organs and organbuilding.10 Fourteen compact discs, featuring performances by Canadian and American artists on Wolff instruments, have been released, and three others are in preparation.11

Brunzema Organs, Fergus, Ontario (1979-1992)

Gerhard Brunzema was born in Emden, Germany, and grew up in Menden on the Ruhr river, a northern part of the country where there was an abundance of historic organs. After World War II he apprenticed with Paul Ott in Göttingen and worked with him as a journeyman organbuilder (1948-1952). He received extensive technical training, including acoustics, at the Brunswick State Institute for Physics and Technology (1953-1954), and received a Master's degree in organbuilding in 1955. In 1953 he joined the prominent European organbuilder Jürgen Ahrend in the construction and restoration of organs, some in Holland and Germany of great historical significance; this association continued for 18 years. After emigrating to Canada he joined Casavant Frères in 1972 and served as artistic director until 1979; during that time he was responsible for the design of several notable organs in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Australia, along with the restoration of a number of historic Casavant instruments in Ontario and Québec. His experience at Casavant gave him the opportunity to work with very large organs, an experience that was lacking in Germany.

In 1979 he established his own business in Fergus, Ontario. Throughout his career he specialized mainly in small, one-manual, four-stop, continuo organs (25 in all); most of his nine two-manual instruments--the largest was 25 stops--were made between 1985 and 1987. In 1990 he was joined by his son, Friedrich, who had completed his apprenticeship in Europe. Until the time of his death in 1992, Gerhard Brunzema's total output amounted to 41 instruments; of these, 20 were installed in Canadian locations (mainly in eastern provinces), 17 in the United States, one in the Philippines, one in South Korea, and two in European countries. The tonal design of his instruments was strongly influenced by Schnitger organs that he had studied and restored while in Europe. He believed that basic organ design cannot be learned through restoration work, because such instruments were conceived by others; nevertheless, in restorations the intentions of the original builders should be respected. As for new instruments, his philosophy was that "An organbuilder should choose a style and stay with it, so that he not only continues to develop his own skills, but also continues to help improve the skills of the people working for him. . . . Become a master of one thing, get over the initial difficulties very quickly, and then polish your knowledge, the details of which will finally add up to a very good result."12

Koppejan Pipe Organs, Chilliwack, British Columbia (1979)

Adrian Koppejan was born in Veenendaal, Holland, and apprenticed with his father, who was an organbuilder there. He worked with Friedrich Weigle in Echterdingen by Stuttgart, Germany (1963-1966), with Pels & Van Leeuwen in Alkmaar, Holland (1968-1972) as shop foreman of the mechanical organ department, and with his father's company, Koppejan Pipe Organs, in Ederveen, Holland (1968-1972). He moved to Canada in 1974 and established his own company five years later.

Adrian Koppejan strives for a clear, warm, but not loud sound in his instruments, a preference inspired by classical organs of North Germany. This sound palette is reflected in the instruments in which he specializes: small and medium-size tracker instruments; he has built five electromechanical organs, as well. His output to date consists of 19 organs; these have been installed in churches and private residences in British Columbia, Alberta, and Washington state. His largest organ is a three-manual, 31-stop, electromechanical instrument, with a MIDI system, installed in the Good Shepherd Church, White Rock, B.C., in 1995. An instrument of similar size was constructed in 1998. Rebuilding, restoration, maintenance, and tuning are also part of regular activities.

Wooden pipes are mostly acquired from Laukhuff, Germany; metal pipes come from Stinkens in Holland and Laukhuff in Germany. Keyboards are made in Germany by Laukhuff or Heuss. Winding mechanisms, consoles, solid oak cabinets, and casework are manufactured in the shop. Blowers are supplied by Laukhuff, and electrical control systems come from Peterson in the U.S.A. There were two part-time employees in 1998 as Adrian Koppejan reduced the scope of his operations in anticipation of retirement.

Orgues Létourneau,  Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec (1979)

Fernand Létourneau was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, where he worked for while as a carpenter before entering employment with Casavant Frères in 1965; there he apprenticed with his uncle, Jean-Paul Létourneau, who was head reed voicer. He remained with the company for 14 years, where he was head voicer from 1975 to 1978, when he decided to set up his own independent company. First, with the help of a Canada Council grant, he embarked on an organ tour of Europe to study the voicing of old masters. Upon his return to Canada in 1978 he began building organs in Sainte-Rosalie, Québec, and became incorporated in 1979. His first organ, a two-manual, 6-stop instrument, was started in the basement of the family house and then displayed in the shop of a cabinetmaker; it was later acquired by the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec, Hull, where dozens of students have learned to play the organ on this small instrument. In 1984 he moved back to Saint-Hyacinthe, where three other organbuilders were already established. The factory's first building was formerly a municipal water-filter plant; the partially underground space provided a room 35 feet in height, ideal for erecting organs. A second industrial building was acquired recently to supplement the original premises.

A total of 55 organs of various sizes have been built to 1998; 13 others are in progress. The great majority have mechanical action, utilizing classical principles used in European instruments, and with the flexibility provided by ranks inspired by Dom Bédos, Schnitger, and Cavaillé-Coll. The largest will be a four-manual, 101-stop, mechanical-action instrument intended for the Francis Winspear Centre, Edmonton, Alberta. International distribution has been common from the outset, beginning with three early instruments that were installed in Australian locations in the early 1980s (the builder had become known on account of his activities as a voicer of Casavant instruments in that country). Others have been placed in New Zealand, Austria, England (Pembroke College, Oxford, 1995; an instrument is under construction for the Tower of London for completion in late 1999), the United States (over one-third of the total production), and Canada (chiefly eastern provinces, a few in the west). The company now has permanent representatives in the United States, England, and New Zealand. Fernand Létourneau prefers to build instruments of eclectic tonal design that are suitable for the performance of a wide range of organ literature. Historic restorations have also been undertaken.

All organ components, with the exception of electronics, are made in the factory, including wooden and metal pipes to 32-foot length, keyboards, consoles, and casework. Blowers are acquired from Laukhuff, Germany. Middle-size organs are equipped with electronic sequencers, card readers, and similar devices. The company is constantly engaged in rebuilding and restoring instruments of different vintages to original condition, about 50 to date, several of which have been designated as historical or heritage instruments. In 1998 there were 45 full-time staff in the Létourneau "family," of which a number are related to one another as father-son/daughter, uncle, brother, cousin, and husband-wife.  

Kenneth Kajkowski, age 43, of Helena, Montana, died April 19 following an automobile accident southeast of White Sulfur Springs, Montana. Born in New York City, he studied organ with Dr. George Powers and attended Manhattan School of Music and Queensborough School of Music. He learned organbuilding as an apprentice with Louis Mohr in New York City, and later formed his own company, Kenn Pro Co., in Maspeth, New York. He moved west in 1976 to work with the Hendrickson Organ Company in St. Peter, Minnesota. In 1978 he opened his own shop in Great Falls, Montana, moved it to Deer Lodge in 1983 and then to Helena in 1992. A recent project was the rebuild of a 1912 Bennet organ for the First Presbyterian Church of Lewistown, Montana. He was a member of the OHS and the AIO. He is survived by an 8-year-old son, his father, and his aunt. Funeral services were held at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Helena.

Charles Myers, of Clitheroe, England, died on February 27. Born in London in 1923, he grew up during the inter-war years in Worcester, where he was educated at Worcester Cathedral Choir School and at Worcester Cathedral King's School. He was a treble in the Choir of Worcester Cathedral under Sir Ivor Atkins, and later studied with Herbert Sumsion. Mr. Myers followed courses at Trinity College of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music, where he won the Sir Augustus Manns Memorial Prize for Organ Playing. He was also awarded diplomas from the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, and the Royal College of Organists. In 1944 he was appointed Organist of St. George's Church, Barbourne, Worcester, and in 1948 became Assistant Music Master at Monkton Combe School near Bath. While at the school he met Rowena Jenner, a qualified nurse, who had become the School Matron. They were married in 1950. That same year they moved to Clitheroe, where Charles was appointed Organist and Choirmaster of the Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene. He also held teaching appointments at both Clitheroe Royal Grammar Schools for Girls and for Boys for well over 20 years. During his time at Clitheroe, he founded and organized the Clitheroe Parish Church Organ Society, which hosts concerts by both "up-and-coming" and internationally renowned artists. For many years he was editor of Musical Opinion and continued writing reviews until this death. Myers had a special interest in organ construction and had been consultant to a number of churches for improvements to their instruments. In 1975, he accepted an invitation from the Lord Bishop of Blackburn to become the Organ Adviser for the Diocese.

R. Franklin Mitchell died March 31 in Lawrence, Kansas. Born on March 30, 1917, in Murphysboro, Illinois, he joined the Reuter Organ Company in 1951 as special representative and consultant, and in 1957 was appointed Tonal Director. He was elected Vice President of the company in 1965. In 1980 he assumed the position of President and Partner, a position he held until 1983 when he became Chairman of the Board, continuing in that position until his retirement in 1995. Mr. Mitchell and the Reuter Organ Company both celebrated their 81st birthdays this year, Mitchell on March 30 and Reuter on March 3. During his 44 years of service, he was involved with the design and tonal finishing of over 1,000 pipe organs. Mitchell received the BA in music from Missouri Valley College, Marshall, Missouri, in 1938, and the MMus in organ from the University of Michigan in 1943. In 1945-50 he did graduate study at Union Theological Seminary. In 1969 and 1972 he toured Europe to study European pipe organ design and construction. He held the position of organist of the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor 1941-44, at the Presbyterian Church of Spartanburg, South Carolina 1946-47, and when he began work at Reuter in 1951 he was named organist and director of music of the First United Methodist Church in Lawrence, a position he held until 1961. Mitchell was also a teacher and professor of music. After his graduation he became Instructor of Music at Missouri Valley College 1939-41.  He served in the Air Force during World War II and was a chaplain's assistant. After the war and his service in Spartanburg, he was professor of organ at Linfield College, MacMinnville, Oregon 1947-49, and was instructor in music at Northwest Missouri State College when he accepted the position with Reuter. He served as Visiting Lecturer in Organ for 10 years, 1968-78, at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Missouri Valley College. He is survived by his wife Adeline, a son, two daughters, and two grandsons.

The Odyssey of an Organbuilder

R. E. Coleberd, an economist and retired petroleum industry executive, is a contributing editor of The Diapason.

Introduction

The careers of numerous American organbuilders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are the story of a journey—from Europe to the United States or from shop to shop. From Germany came George Kilgen and Philipp Wirsching; from England John T. Austin, Octavius Marshall, and Henry Pilcher. In the U.S., Adolph Reuter’s sojourn took him from Barckhoff to Pilcher, Verney, Casavant (South Haven), and Wicks before he founded his own firm first in Trenton, Illinois, and then Lawrence, Kansas. A. G. Sparling moved from Lyon & Healy to Stevens to Holtkamp. These individuals and their firms are typical of the rich and colorful history of pipe organ building in America. Yet perhaps none of them comes close to the odyssey of Stanley Wyatt Williams 1881–1971 (see photo). Williams’ lifetime spans the arc of his era—from Robert Hope-Jones to G. Donald Harrison (Aeolian-Skinner) with stops at Electrolian, Wirsching, Murray Harris, Robert-Morton, Kimball, and E. M. Skinner. His talents as a voicer and tonal finisher played a pivotal role in the succession of nameplates in the U.S. West Coast pipe organ industry, and his stellar reputation led to important sales by recognized national builders.

Early Life

Stanley Wyatt Williams was born in London on October 29, 1881, the youngest of four sons and two daughters of George Edward Williams, who described himself as a “gentleman,” having made a comfortable living in the brewing industry. His family was musical; his mother sang a solo for Queen Victoria, and each of the sons was taught a musical instrument.1 As he recalled many years later: “I was always a little bit crazy about organs, not that I knew anything about them.”2 After attending the Mostyn House School in Cheshire and the Whitgift Grammar School at Croydon, Surrey, he enrolled in Dulwich College (southeast of London), founded in 1619.3 G. Donald Harrison graduated from there some years later. Suffering a health setback, Williams withdrew from school on the advice of a London physician.4 In the ensuing soul-searching, a well-known London organist, Charles Lawrence, took him to see an organbuilder and the instrument in the builder’s home. “That interested me more than ever,” he later commented, and he determined to become an organbuilder.5 His daughter, Mary Cowell, recalled that the family apparently was none too pleased with his choice of vocation, considering organbuilding a “trade” and thus beneath the dignity of their aristocratic image.6 Nonetheless his father paid the two or three hundred pounds required to enroll him as an apprentice to the legendary organbuilder, Robert Hope-Jones.7

An electrical engineer by profession who held an important position with the National Telephone Company in Liverpool, Hope-Jones was organist and choirmaster of St. John’s Church in Birkenhead, across the Mersey River from Liverpool. With local financial backing he organized the Hope-Jones Organ Company in Birkenhead, building instruments first in the factory of Norman & Beard in Norwich, and then in the Ingram, Hope-Jones shop in Hereford.8 Williams joined him in 1899 at age 18 (see photo, page 25). He couldn’t have found a better teacher or a more prophetic environment in which to acquire organbuilding skills and prepare for what would become a most interesting career. “As an apprentice . . . I was assigned to work at every phase of organ building. I voiced, I carpentered, I electrified—everything about organbuilding had to be learned. It was something I was later very grateful for.”9 “Not only a genius, but a great teacher,” said Williams of Hope-Jones: “He taught all of us to think for ourselves.”10

The controversial and enigmatic Hope-Jones would exert a profound and far-reaching influence on the King of Instruments through his revolutionary tonal and mechanical innovations. He pioneered what would emerge as the symphonic-orchestral voicing paradigm that swept the American industry in the 1920s. This type of instrument was marked by an ensemble of different tonal groups all at the same pitch, in contrast to the time-honored chorus of different pitches within the same tonal family. Mixtures and mutations were discarded and replaced with unison voices of comparatively wide or narrow scale pipes on higher wind pressures. The entire instrument was enclosed.11 Hope-Jones’s mechanical inventions included double-touch, a key characteristic of theatre organs, and high resistance electro-magnets requiring very little current.12

After completing shop routines, Williams joined the road crew and worked on the organ in the Hereford cathedral. There he met and fell in love with Isabel Robbins, whom he would marry in January 1908. When Hope-Jones immigrated to the United States in the spring of 1903, Stanley elected to remain with the former partner, Eustace Ingram, finishing instruments then under construction. A fellow worker asked whether he had ever considered moving to the States, and told him that an American firm, the Electrolian Company of Hoboken, New Jersey, was looking for a voicer. He interviewed, accepted an offer, and bidding farewell to his sweetheart in Hereford crossed the Atlantic in 1906.13 Williams was to be among several former Hope-Jones apprentices who came to America.14

The Land of Opportunity

Voicers are the cornerstone of any organbuilding enterprise. Stanley Williams was called to voice and finish instruments built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company, now relocated to Hoboken and renamed the Electrolian Organ Company.15 He installed and finished the Electrolian-built 19-rank, two-manual and pedal instrument in the Wolcott School in Denver, Colorado (among whose pupils was Mamie Dowd, the future wife of President Dwight Eisenhower), and finished an instrument built for a Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. His reputation as a gifted voicer and finisher soon became well-known, for, as he later recounted, when he returned from Philadelphia to Hoboken, seven job offers awaited him.16 The Electrolian assets were next acquired by the legendary Philipp Wirsching of Salem, Ohio, whom Stanley met when he finished the instrument Wirsching built in 1907 for Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church in Hoboken.17 Wirsching moved the business to Ohio, and Stanley joined him there.

Among the Electrolian assets Wirsching acquired was a contract for a two-manual and pedal organ with player attachment for the new palace of the Maharaja of Mysore, India. In January 1908, Williams returned to England, married his sweetheart Isabel, and in July the couple set sail for India to install the organ, traveling through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.18 This was to be the “Great Adventure,” surely one of the most fantastic episodes (see photo, page 25) in the history of organbuilding the world over, and long a familiar topic of conversation in the rich folklore of the industry (see James Stark and Charles Wirsching Jr., The Great Adventure, forthcoming). Stanley and Isabel returned to England in January 1910, and in March sailed for America where Stanley resumed work with Wirsching.

While finishing an instrument in Terre Haute, Indiana, Williams received a telegram from the Murray M. Harris Organ Company in Los Angeles asking him to come to the West Coast to finish voicing the instrument they were building for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Los Angeles19 (see stoplist). Charles McQuigg, the Harris head voicer, had left the company, no doubt mindful of its precarious financial condition.20 Williams responded, completed the assignment, and returned to Ohio. Then the Harris people, having recognized his skills and eager to maintain their reputation for fine instruments, offered him the head voicer position in the newly reorganized firm. Williams accepted and moved to Los Angeles in 1911 where he would remain for the balance of his career. As David Lennox Smith, Harris scholar, observed: “the most notable addition to the staff of the Murray M. Harris Company in its final years was Stanley Wyatt Williams.”21

Los Angeles Organbuilders

At the turn of the century the market for the King of Instruments on the West Coast was vibrant and growing rapidly, built upon the tidal wave of immigration and the rapid pace of church construction in the emerging metropolitan landscapes. Moreover, the spirit of enterprise was everywhere, marked by numerous “self-made” men eager to apply their talents and fortunes to railroad building, telegraph, mercantile trade, real estate development—and organbuilding. Local businessmen and their funding initially played a pivotal role in the succession of organbuilder nameplates in Los Angeles, as they did in establishing the industry elsewhere, for example, in Erie, Pennsylvania.22 But these “outsiders” invested with virtually no inkling of the inherently high-risk business of building pipe organs. Cost estimating, pricing, competition, and, especially, critical problems of cash flow vexed most builders and overwhelmed others.23 As Stanley explained: “You had to watch your pennies very closely to have a couple left when you finished an organ.”24 For a while the euphoric atmosphere of large buildings, talented employees, and fine, heavily publicized instruments masked these fundamental concerns. But before long financial realities took over.

Murray M. Harris

Organbuilding in Los Angeles began in 1895 when Fletcher & Harris built a two-manual instrument for the Church of the Ascension, Episcopal, in Sierra Madre.25 Murray M. Harris (1866–1922), a skilled voicer who had apprenticed with Hutchings in Boston, continued on his own. In 1900 he recruited a cadre of skilled artisans led by William Boone Fleming (1849–1940) who became superintendent. Harris acquired a spacious factory building and prospered by building instruments for the local market.26 In July 1900, the firm was incorporated as the Murray M. Harris Organ Company and capitalized at $100,000.27 In 1903 Harris contracted to build a 140-stop Audsley-designed instrument for the St. Louis Exposition. It was to be voiced, at Audsley’s request, by John W. Whitely, a well-known English voicer, described as “one of the pioneer spirits in the Birkenhead shops of Mr. Hope-Jones.”28 The St. Louis organ was something of a watershed in American organbuilding history. As David Lennox Smith commented: “The influence of the St. Louis organ could soon be seen in the String Organ divisions, multiple enclosures, and other new features that were included with growing frequency in specifications for large new organs.”29

Soon financial problems began that would continue to plague Harris. Working capital proved inadequate to finish the mammoth St. Louis instrument. In August 1903, the Los Angeles Times reported that shareholders, including Harris, his wife Helen, and others, were delinquent in court-ordered assessments of $10 per share on their stock. The problem resulted when only 352 shares, par value $100 per share, were actually subscribed, and thus of the authorized capitalization of $100,000, only $35,200 was paid-in and perhaps even less. The court stipulated that the additional stock be auctioned off at the company offices to acquire the funds necessary to keep operating.30

Enter Eben Smith, an archetypical entrepreneur who was described in the press as a “mining man” and “Colorado banker.” He had made a fortune in Colorado silver mines and was president of the Pacific Wireless Telephone Company.31 Smith purchased 500 shares of Harris stock, thereby acquiring a controlling interest in the business. He renamed it the Los Angeles Art Organ Company.32 In 1905 a patent infringement lawsuit threatened the company with liquidation, whereupon key employees, led by Fleming, moved east for a brief sojourn in Hoboken, New Jersey, under the name of Electrolian Organ Company.33 By September 1907, the employees, minus Fleming (who moved to Philadelphia where he was subsequently employed to superintend the installation of the St. Louis Exposition organ in the Wanamaker store), were back in Los Angeles, having joined the reorganized Murray M. Harris Organ Company.34 The head voicer was now Charles W. McQuigg, a protegé of John W. Whitely, who had remained in Los Angeles and served briefly as the Pacific Coast representative of the Barckhoff Church Organ Company of Pomeroy, Ohio.35

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and First Church of Christ, Scientist

The 1911 instrument Stanley Williams was called to voice and finish reflected the manifold changes in stoplist design and voicing taking place in the industry. With Harris’s training at Hutchings and acquaintance with other work in the east, it was not surprising that his early stoplists closely paralleled the work of these builders.36 The 1901 Murray Harris at Stanford University is a good example. As described by Manuel Rosales, who restored this instrument in 1986, the Stanford Harris was a typical 19th-century instrument featuring a well-developed principal chorus on the Great, a secondary chorus on the Swell, and a small Choir organ with not a full chorus but other colors. The voicing, on three to four inches wind pressure, was gentle and clear. Flutes were not exaggerated, i.e., no tibia tone, strings were precise and clear, and pedal stops were well balanced with the manuals. In contrast, the St. Paul’s specification (see stoplist, page 24) was confined to an ensemble of unison and octave voices at 16¢, 8¢, and 4¢ pitches, with emphasis on the 8¢ voice, representing the trend of the day. Diapason scales were much larger, and string scales much smaller than in earlier instruments.37 This characteristic most likely reflected the influence of John Whitely, the voicer who was closely associated with Audsley and who joined Harris in 1903, as well as Charles McQuigg, said to have “absorbed much of Whitely’s technic and ideal.”38

The first organ where Stanley’s design influence is found is the 1912 instrument for the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Angeles (see stoplist). Having also felt the impress of Whitely in England, he substituted a Tibia Clausa, a Hope-Jones stop, for the customary Gross Flute on the Great.39 But as Rosales points out, the absence of a tremolo on this division indicates this voice was viewed as filling out the ensemble, in contrast to a solo voice as found in a theatre organ. This organ contained a Dolce Cornet on the Swell and a 22?3' and 2' on the Great in what might be termed a vestigial chorus, but in no way could it be considered a well-developed Great chorus, which by this time had largely disappeared from American stoplists. What emerges is an accompanimental instrument in which the high-pressure Tuba, dominating the ensemble or playing solo against it, is symbolic of the trend.40

Tonal Philosophy, 1913

Williams’ expertise in voicing and finishing was soon recognized. In February 1913, he was the featured speaker at a meeting of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.41 His comments reflected his knowledge of English organbuilding, his background with Hope-Jones, and focused on the character and content of foundation tone. True diapason tone must predominate, he asserted. Subject to broad limits, it is bounded by string tone at one end of the spectrum and flute tone at the other. Old diapasons were “mellow and sweet,” a cantabile sound suited to today’s Choir organ. He faulted “Old Masters” for failing to preserve the character and power of voicing throughout the entire compass, which he attributed to imperfect scaling. The prevalence of upperwork and the introduction of “harsh” reeds, in the middle of the 19th century, overbalanced diapason tone, Williams said, leading cynics to refer to the “sausage frying” sound of a full Swell. To remedy this result, diapasons were increased in scale and number. Hard, stringy and nasal, they were brilliant in a way that favored upper partials, sacrificing fundamental tone and thereby blending well with mutations and reeds. Then the pendulum swung back to the other extreme and high-cut mouths produced a flabby tone devoid of the necessary partials and bordering on the fluty.'
He outlined the foundations of a three-manual organ, reflecting the Hope-Jones influence and the tastes of the time. On the Great manual the first diapason should be large scale and with a leathered lip; the second diapason, of medium scale, not leathered, but not in any way stringy. The third should be a “mild and sweet” voice, and quite soft, much like the work of Father Bernard Smith. On the Swell, a Hope-Jones phonon-type should be the first diapason, large scale and leather-lipped, necessary to balance the Swell reeds. The second should be a violin or horn diapason. For the choir organ, a mild geigen or gemshorn was the preferred voice. He cautioned that every stop in a well-voiced organ must have its “individuality,” and lamented builder fads, which he found detrimental to the advancement of the instrument. He challenged organists and organbuilders to work together to uphold the dignity of the instrument and its music to insure its high place in the church service. Williams’ comments offer an interesting contrast to today’s perspective and were superseded in his own thinking as reflected in his work with Kimball and Skinner.

Murray M. Harris, continued

In 1912, a year after Williams joined the Harris firm, financial problems reappeared. Murray Harris sold his interest to a retired mining man from Mexico named Heuer, who soon became disillusioned with the meager (if any) profits in organbuilding, and sold out.42 In August 1913, control of the company passed to E. S. Johnston, former manager of the Eilers Music Company in Los Angeles, who in November that year advertised the Johnston Organ and Piano Manufacturing Company as successor to the Murray M. Harris Co.43 Johnston and real estate developer Suburban Homes then agreed to build a 75,000 square foot factory in Van Nuys, which opened in November 1913. Soon, however, working capital was again exhausted. Johnston and his partner Bell journeyed east in search of funds but apparently returned empty-handed.44 Then Suburban Homes of Van Nuys, having turned down Johnston’s plea for financial backing, were the new owners by default. They renamed the business California Organ Company and promptly palmed it off to the Title Insurance and Trust Company of Los Angeles, holders of the mortgage on the factory building.45

Robert-Morton Organ Company

At this time a sea change was taking place in the whole concept of pipe organs and in the industry that built them. The theatre market, with its radically different instrument, was growing rapidly, having displaced the higher-cost pit orchestra. Equipped with tibias, kinuras and other voices as well as traps and toy counters, these instruments were ideally suited for accompanying silent movies. The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, whose name would soon become the generic term for the theatre pipe organ, was already enjoying a nationwide business. Within less than ten years, organbuilding in America would be virtually divided into two separate industries, with Wurlitzer, Robert-Morton, Barton, Link, Marr & Colton, Page, and Geneva identified almost exclusively with the theatre paradigm. Other builders, although they built theatre organs, were primarily identified with the church instrument and market.
The California Organ Company was at a crossroads. Would they continue in the church organ industry, now well established nationwide and well represented on the West Coast? Or would they recognize and capitalize on the growing theatre organ market? The resources were in place in Van Nuys: a well-appointed modern factory, skilled artisans, and a talented, experienced senior management, which together had guaranteed the succession of nameplates. As the late Tom B’hend, whose research chronicles much of the history of this era, observed: “The Wurlitzer Hope-Jones instruments were gaining popularity; the unit principle was being accepted without reserve by up and coming theatre organists . . . If the California Organ Company were to enter the theatre field, it would be necessary to produce a unit instrument of comparable quality.”46 With his rich background as an apprentice of Hope-Jones, who could be better qualified to design and build such an instrument than Stanley Williams? As Williams later reflected: “I was the one man on the West Coast who could put this sort of instrument into production.”47

Enter the American Photo Player Company of Berkeley, California. In 1912 this firm produced a small tubular-pneumatic pit instrument combining a few ranks of flue pipes and perhaps a reed stop with a piano. Booming sales and nationwide distribution alerted them to the tremendous potential for a unit theatre organ.48 Negotiations beginning in the spring of 1916 led to the merger of the California Organ and American Photo Player companies and on May 2, 1917, the Robert-Morton Organ Company was duly incorporated.49 As the late David Junchen, noted theatre organ biographer, commented: “Werner (Harry J. Werner, Photo Player promoter) had found just the ticket for expanding his theatre sales, and the owners of the California Organ Co. had found a buyer for the albatross they didn’t want anyway.”50 Stanley Williams was named plant superintendent and the following year vice president. Opus 1, a two-manual organ designed by Williams, was built for the California Theatre in Santa Barbara.51 As B’hend noted: “The men and women who built pipe organs in Southern California never left their work benches to take up fabrication of the Robert-Morton pipe organ.”52

The new company increasingly focused on the theatre instrument, but initially it continued to service a spectrum of the local market, including churches. In 1917 Morton built a $10,000 instrument for the A. Hamburger and Sons Department Store in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times noted that it was the first organ of its kind on the Pacific Coast, and was acquired “for the purpose of giving the people a musical education and making shopping more pleasant.”53 In 1920 Williams sold and most likely designed a 72-rank, six-division, four-manual organ for Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.54 Edward Hopkins lauded Williams’ “English training, practical experience at the voicing machine, and open-minded progressiveness,” saying the Bovard organ “stands pre-eminent.”55 This instrument featured Morton’s horseshoe console (Morton didn’t build drawknob consoles) and concrete swell boxes enclosing the entire instrument.

W. W. Kimball Company

Williams, a realist in business matters, recognized that Morton made the right choice in electing to build theatre pipe organs. Yet his heart was with the classic church organ, and the Bovard instrument no doubt reinforced his convictions. As his daughter reflected: “He didn’t like traps and toy counters.”56 He resigned from Morton in early 1922, and was feted by employees at a Saturday afternoon gathering at the shop in recognition of his eleven years service to Morton and its predecessors.57 Momentarily, he elected to go out on his own. He and his wife Isabel, together with Carl B. Sartwell, his colleague at Morton, formed Stanley W. Williams, Incorporated and built perhaps one or two instruments, his daughter believes; the details are unknown.58 But the odds were against them. By this time what local capital had been available was already committed to the theatre organ business, and nationally known church organ builders were well represented on the West Coast. Stanley soon wisely recognized that with his interests, his next opportunity lay with an established (i.e., well-capitalized) church organ builder.

Williams then began a five-year sojourn with the W. W. Kimball Company of Chicago as their West Coast representative.59 His decision was no doubt influenced by his former colleague in Van Nuys, Robert P. Elliot, with whom he shared many details in a common philosophy of organbuilding. The much-traveled Elliot, who joined California Organ as vice president and general manager in October 1916, left in May 1918 to become head of the organ department at Kimball in Chicago.60 A dynamic and aggressive firm, Kimball was ever alert to market opportunities, and recognized that their name, well-established in pianos and reed organs, carried over into the market for pipe organs. A large newspaper advertisement by the Eilers Music House in Los Angeles, in April 1912, promoting the Kimball Player Piano, mentioned Kimball as “America’s Greatest Pipe Organ Builders.”61

During this period the Kimball company was making far-reaching changes in the mechanical and tonal character of their instrument, attributed primarily to the influence of Elliot and George Michel, the latter widely acclaimed for his superb reed and string voicing. As Junchen noted: “If George Michel was the voice of the Kimball organ, R. P. Elliot was its soul.”62 Improvements in Kimball engineering and action design, coupled with elegant workmanship, were marked by abandonment of two-pressure bellows and two-pressure ventil windchests with hinged pouches in favor of a pitman-action windchest with springs under the pouches. Tonally, Kimball moved away from the liturgical motif in church organ design toward a pronounced symphonic and orchestral paradigm, a new direction for American organbuilders.63

In Los Angeles

Stanley Williams opened his Kimball office in the downtown emporium of the Sherman-Clay Music Company. “For half a century, Sherman, Clay & Co. has been the philosopher and friend of good music on the Pacific Coast,” they advertised.64 When churches went looking for a pipe organ, they logically began with a music retailer. The connection between music retailers and organ sales was a salient but long-overlooked feature of marketing the instrument during this time. As early as 1902, Harris was represented by Kohler & Chase in San Francisco and then independently by Robert Fletcher Tilton, a well-known musician with an office in the Kohler & Chase building.65 In Los Angeles, the Aeolian Company was represented by the George J. Birkel Music Company, and Welte-Mignon by the Barker Brothers department store. Showrooms soon appeared. By 1926 Wurlitzer, Robert-Morton, and Link all maintained showrooms in Los Angeles.66

Williams’ work with Kimball began immediately, as did the maintenance business he established. He installed, finished, and perhaps sold the 23-rank, three-manual Kimball organ in the world-famous Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, an early megachurch seating 5,300 (see stoplist, page 27). This church, dedicated on New Year’s Day 1923, was built by the flamboyant evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the International Church of the Four Square Gospel.67 It is a colorful instrument now undergoing restoration in what was once a wonderful acoustic, ideally suited to the worship style and tastes of the founder and the congregation. In what must have been the pinnacle of unification and duplexing, 23 ranks of pipes were spread over 61 speaking stops. Each rank was playable at three or more pitches and duplexed to two or more manuals. Synthetic stops included a saxophone and orchestral oboe. Couplers greatly increased the power and versatility of the instrument. The Orchestral division is in the same chamber as the Great, sharing voices and thereby giving the illusion of a larger organ as does the number of stop tabs on the console.68

Other Kimball sales by Williams in Los Angeles churches included organs in Hollywood Presbyterian, St. James Episcopal, Precious Blood Roman Catholic, and Rosewood Methodist churches.69 He also supervised the re-installation of the 1911 Murray Harris instrument in St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in the new edifice in 1924, replacing the original console with one built by Kimball.70 The largest Kimball organ he sold, in 1926, was a 56-rank, 65-stop, four-manual for the First Baptist Church of Los Angeles (see stoplist).71 The West Coast correspondent of The Diapason, Roland Diggle, described it as having “lovely solo voices and a stunning ensemble.”72

Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner

In 1927 Stanley Williams made his last move, the capstone of his illustrious career, joining Ernest M. Skinner of Boston as Pacific Coast representative.73 He welcomed the opportunity to affiliate with America’s foremost builder of this era, and Skinner in turn was pleased that a man of such knowledge and reputation would now add luster to his prestigious firm. This association was celebrated with a dinner for the local organ fraternity at a fashionable downtown restaurant.74 In July 1928, Williams installed a two-manual, ten-rank, duplexed and unified Skinner instrument, Opus 690, in his home. An enclosed instrument representative of small residence organs built by the Boston patriarch, it comprised a diapason, unit flute, flute and celeste, string and celeste, and four reeds: vox humana, clarinet, French horn, and an English horn—the latter two Skinner favorites.75 Sales of two-, three-, and four-manual instruments began immediately: a four-manual for Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, in 1927, Opus 676, and in 1930 a 78-rank, four-manual organ for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Opus 818, designed by Harold Gleason in consultation with Lynwood Farnam and G. Donald Harrison (see photo above).76 The same year another four-manual organ was built for Temple Methodist Church in San Francisco, Opus 819.77 Sales in 1931 included a four-manual organ for First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, Opus 856, and the following year a four-manual for the residence of prominent Pasadena pediatrician Dr. Raymond B. Mixsell, Opus 893. Organizer of the Bach Festival in Pasadena, Dr. Mixsell engaged Marcel Dupré to play the inaugural recital on his instrument.78 Williams’ extensive service business, established when he began working for Kimball in 1922, carried him through World War II, when organ companies could no longer build new instruments. After the war, heavy sales resumed.

Tonal Philosophy, 1959

In 1959 Stanley was asked to appraise and recommend updates for the 1926 Kimball organ at the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles, an instrument he had sold and installed.79 The document he prepared sheds light on the evolution of Williams’ tonal philosophy and offers key insights into the prevailing orthodoxy of the 1920s, especially the practices of the Kimball Company, a long-neglected major builder. He asserted that during the 1920s, the entire organbuilding industry in the United States was “to some degree” influenced by the theatre pipe organ. Williams lamented this trend, which saw higher wind pressures and voicing of flutes, diapasons, strings, and reeds that tended to isolate and magnify their differences. He acknowledged the positive contribution of the theatre epoch in “better engineering practice and the speed and reliability of action.”

Williams called for major tonal revisions to make the instrument more suitable for worship services, choir accompaniment, and interpretation of the instrument’s great literature. These revisions included replacing all flue pipes in the Great division except the Gemshorn and the Melodia, substituting a Quintadena for the 16¢ Double Open Diapason, and eliminating the Tromba (see stoplists, pages 27 and above). On the Swell manual the many new ranks recommended included a “small scale bright tone trumpet” in place of the Cornopean, and on the Choir new mutations and a Krummhorn. He recommended revoicing the Gamba and Celeste on the Solo division for a “broader and softer” sound. In 1965 this instrument was enla

Key for the cover illustration
1. Original factory building, 158 Woodland Street. Occupied from 1899–1937.
2. Opus 2, Sweetest Heart of Mary Church, Detroit, 2 manuals, 20 stops. Still in regular service.
3. Opus 500, Panama-Pacific Exhibition, San Francisco, 4 manuals, 121 stops. Damaged in a 1989 earthquake, it remains in storage awaiting completion of restoration and installation.
4. Opus 2536, Trinity College Chapel, Hartford, 3 manuals, 62 stops.
5. Opus 2719, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 4 manuals, 65 stops.
6. Opus 453, The Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park, San Diego, 4 manuals, 62 stops.
7. Opus 323, City Hall Auditorium, Portland, Maine, 5 manuals, 124 stops.
8. Opus 2768, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California, 4 manuals, 68 stops.
9. Opus 2782, Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 4 manuals, 139 stops.
10. The “new” factory building (1937), as expanded several times.
Center: The Austin Universal Airchest logo, including the crest with the motto: Scientia Artem Adjuvat. The motto and crest are said to have been the design of former Austin employee Robert Hope-Jones.
Background: The background is a blueprint, Opus 2786, Assumption Church, Westport, Connecticut.

The first Austin milestone:

1893—the first instrument

The Austin story begins like so many tales of European emigration. It was in the year 1889 that young John T. Austin sailed for the shores of the new world with a man he met who was visiting England (the Austin family native soil) and was returning to California. The Austin family was considerably well off: Jonathan Austin (the father) was a “gentleman farmer,” whose hobby was tinkering with organs and organbuilding. During the voyage, all of John’s money was liberated from his person before arriving in New York, presumably the result of the kindness of his traveling companion!

Penniless, he used his extraordinary wits to find his way to Michigan, and was immediately hired by the Farrand & Votey firm in Detroit. In a few years’ time, he had become plant superintendent, and in his free time he developed a concept for a new type of windchest. After building and servicing bar and slider (tracker organ) windchests, and certainly seeing many of the new electro-pneumatic actions coming on the scene, he was convinced that there must be a better way. The folks at Farrand & Votey were not interested, so in 1893 he built and sold a new organ that he built at the Clough & Warren (reed organ) plant.

His concept was innovative, because you could simply walk right into the windchest (he called it an airbox) and service the complete mechanism. Inside the airbox of many of these early instruments were also the motor for the bellows and the electric (direct current) generator. He started selling these new instruments with alacrity. It is an often-held belief that Austin organs have tracker-like lifespan, and this is evidenced by the fact that several of these early instruments, Opus 2 from 1894 for example, continue to play well year after year.

A discussion of the Austin mechanism would easily consume an entire volume, but in digest form, the organ utilizes one manual motor (primary note action) for each note, or key, in a division, and one stop action motor for each stop on a main windchest. The valves under each pipe are not leather pouches, such as one might find in a Skinner, Möller, or other electro-pneumatic instrument, but in an Austin, they are simply mechanical valves connected by wooden trackers (yes, trackers!) to the manual motor for each particular note. This mechanism is reliable and inherently self-adjusting. Springs and felt guides allow wild changes in humidity and temperature with no degradation in performance. The whole concept is, in a word, brilliant!

In 1899, perhaps the apex of the American Industrial Revolution, John T. Austin was just 30 years old when he moved into the facility on Woodland Street in Hartford, Connecticut. Legend has it that that the crew (including JTA) was installing the organ at the Fourth Congregational Church (Opus 22, now the Liberty Christian Center) when the factory in Detroit burned to the ground. Actually, John T. Austin was in Woodstock, Ontario, supervising the construction of the first and only Austin organ constructed by the Karn-Warren Company. The date of the fire was February 2, 1899 (the feast of Candlemas!). On March 31 of that year, the Austin Organ Company was incorporated in the state of Maine. The company actually signed a contract for a new organ on March 1 of that year and rented factory space in Boston—just down the street from the first, soon-to-be Skinner organ factory. The following August, the board of directors authorized the acquisition of the Hartford facility.

The business moved along quickly. It would be safe to say that most instruments of this period were of moderate size; literally dozens of three and four-manual instruments were delivered between 1900 and 1915. This was the point in Austin’s history when some rather significant and interesting instruments were installed. For example: Opus 323, The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ (www.foko.org) was built for the City Hall in Portland, Maine. It was one of the first municipal organs installed in the country. The organ has been played and maintained with loving care. A handsome, new five-manual drawknob console was built for the organ by the Austin firm in 2000.

This organ was followed a few years later by Opus 453, the Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park, San Diego, on New Year’s Eve, 1914. The largest and most renowned outdoor organ, it was the gift of businessmen John D. Spreckels and his brother Adolph B. Spreckels. The organ continues to be heard in regular concerts and events. Dr. Carol Williams retains the position as Municipal Organist, performing regularly to hundreds (www.sosorgan.com). This organ was originally built for the Panama-California Exposition, before being re-gifted to the city.

Meanwhile, up the coast in San Francisco, the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco would open just two months later and run concurrently with the San Diego event. Austin was chosen from a list of about 31 builders to construct the organ for this exposition, and was given a stiff timeline: six months! It was completed the very morning that the exposition opened. When the exposition was concluded, the organ was moved to the Civic Auditorium. The city’s new municipal organist, Edwin Lemare, specified scores of tonal and mechanical changes that he required the Austin Company to complete upon re-installation. Of primary concern was the fact that the organ was being moved from a space that seated 3,000 to an auditorium with a capacity of over 10,000. The organ had many years of fame, but fell to near-obscurity in the late 1950s. In 1963, the Austin firm built a stunning black lacquer drawknob console. It saw a bit more use, but the horrific 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake rendered the organ silent. The organ sustained some damage due to falling debris. Funds were eventually allocated to repair and re-install the organ. The organ was returned to Hartford, and much work had been completed, but a few months into the project, a directive from the city ordered the organ to be returned to San Francisco. It remains in storage beneath the city, much like that final scene of Indiana Jones’s Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Opus 558 would be the company’s first five-manual instrument, built for the Medinah Temple (Masonic Lodge) in Chicago. This organ also had a sister stopkey console of four manuals. During this period, the company production averaged over 60 new pipe organs a year! The next major instrument would be for the Eastman Theater (for the Eastman School of Music); Opus 1010 was a unique theatre organ—the largest ever—of 229 stops! It was, sadly, removed in the 1970s. There were additional notable instruments during this time: the University of Colorado received a four-manual, 119-stop instrument in 1922. The Cincinnati Music Hall awarded a contract for Opus 1109, an 87-stop instrument that utilized much of the existing Hook & Hastings pipework. Opus 1416, a four-manual instrument of 200 stops, was built for the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The final large concert hall organ of this period, Opus 1627, four manuals and 102 stops, was built for Hartford’s own Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall in 1929.

By the mid-1920s, Austin Organ Company was producing over 80 new pipe organs annually. This trend continued until the crash of 1929 and ensuing depression era. The company soldiered on, a bit weakened because of the lack of new business, tremendous overhead (the factory was expanded over three times from its original footprint), and company financing of new instruments to churches, from which payments only dribbled in. In July 1935, The Diapason published the announcement that the Austin Organ Company would close its doors. Non-specific Austin assets and raw materials were sold, and remaining contracts were completed (the final A.O.C. contract was number 1885). A few folks remained to complete warranty work and move the Austin tools and machines into storage. At this time, young Frederic Basil Austin and long-time employee Harold Dubrule kept the fires burning by completing some small rebuilds and service jobs. It was this association that inspired John T. Austin’s nephew to consider purchasing the company, a process that was completed in 1937.

The second Austin milestone: 1937—reorganization and move into a new facility

The “new” Austin Organs, Incorporated opened its doors in February of 1937. The transition from the old management to the new Austin was as seamless as could be expected. They were able to return most employees to their workstations, however, in a scaled-down facility located directly behind the behemoth structure that had been home to the company for the previous 36 years. For the first few years, the company leased the property from G. F. Heublein & Bro. Distributors—liquor distributors for much of the East Coast, famous for their pre-mixed “Club Cocktails.” A wooden guard mounted to an ancient band saw that is still in service in the Austin mill is actually a trespassing warning sign from the pre-1937 Heublein days. Within a few years, the property was purchased by the Austin corporation, and over the next three decades the buildings were expanded several times.

The original factory was rather foursquare—four stories, small footprint. Then a separate wood frame structure was built that served as an erecting room, then a fire, then the mill and new brick erecting room, additions to the main building that became pneumatic departments, more voicing rooms, console and cabinet shop, etc. The design department and metal pipe shop grew along the railroad tracks, requiring the private rail siding to be moved. In the late 1960s, the final addition was the large shipping/receiving and casting room. This expansion required a somewhat more adventurous move: purchase of land from the N.Y./N.H. & Hartford Railroad. Somehow, it was pulled off; the centerline of the main rail appears to have been moved slightly north, and the siding was completely eliminated. The sprawl of the factory now reached nearly 50,000 square feet. Sometimes it was not enough, but it is as efficient as any multi-story manufacturing space can be.

A charming, vintage Otis elevator allows safe and uncomplicated material transport between floors. Systems throughout the factory are up to date, and have been carefully maintained by conscientious staff and the foresight of F. B. Austin’s son, Donald. Assuming the role of president in 1973, Don was a formidable figure in the organ industry. He was a very private person, well respected by his colleagues and employees. Aside from his devotion to the company and care of the physical plant, he maintained the Austin tradition of assiduous design trends.

The well-regarded voicer, David Broome, who retired as tonal director at Austin in 1998, describes the “Austin sound” as never one of extremes. Austin has, as he expresses it, not traditionally been a leader in any new tonal movement in organbuilding. That being said, the company has always built a well-balanced chorus. Even instruments from the 1930s, when so many of our hallowed builders (now gone) built the most tubby-sounding diapason choruses, one can hear the gentle articulation and effects of moderately scaled Austin pipework. We can argue about the sound of the vintage Austin trumpets and oboes, etc., but we never find reeds like them—they not only remain in tune, but have good, steady tonal color as well. The construction of reed pipes was just one of the more than four dozen patents that the Austin Company was granted through the years.

The company motto—Scientia Artem Adjuvat—was not just a clever marketing concept for the Austin family; it was a way of life. Many of the machines in the factory that are used for Austin were made right here. So, we have the machines that repair the machines, right here in the factory! The now famous seven-headed monster that is used to build pedal and stop action blocks was originally built in the front building, and moved here in 1937. It has been improved several times, most recently this year when we added new bushings and guides to allow the belts to travel and run their saws and drills efficiently. (Rafael Ramos, who has been mill foreman since the 1980s, states that it now runs faster and smoother than ever before.)

In 1999, Don Austin retired from active participation in the daily operation of the company. He appointed his daughter Kimberlee as president. He continued as CEO until his death in the fall of 2004. In early 2005, Kimberlee Austin resigned her position with the company.

On an otherwise pleasant Monday in March of 2005, I received a phone call from Trinity College Organist John Rose. He told me that as of that afternoon, the Austin Company would be closing its doors. I was shocked. It felt as though my slightly peculiar but lovable old uncle had passed away. (We were at that time competitors, of course.) We wondered how in the world this could happen. Austin was always so . . . solid. The truth of the matter was that, in fact, the company did not “close”, but just temporarily ceased manufacturing new organs. There was no bankruptcy, no liquidation of tooling or assets. Don Austin’s wife, Marilyn, retained the services of business consultants; the result of their consultation was basically a public offering in the form of a letter sent to nearly every organbuilder or supplier in the country, while Marilyn and a few employees kept the phones answered and made small parts for existing instruments.

The third Austin milestone:
2007—a new direction

In the late 1960s, Richard Taylor, a former Aeolian-Skinner employee and New England Conservatory graduate, arrived at Austin Organs to assume the position of the soon-to-retire Les Barrows, who had been purchasing manager for 59 years. After a couple of years working in the plant and in the service department, the day finally arrived when he would occupy a small desk in the corner of the factory offices on the second floor. At the rather generous rate of $2.00 an hour, he was fairly pleased with his position. In the early 1970s, there was a brief drop in organ sales, and Don Austin decided to cut back in every department. He decided that there was no need for a purchasing manager. So, Mr. Taylor moved on to other industries, among them, purchasing manager–military operations for Colt Firearms. By the late 1980s, he had returned to organbuilding, as superintendent at the former Berkshire Organ Company in Western Massachusetts.

As for me, I have studied engineering in Springfield, Massachusetts, music at Westminster Choir College, and Emergency Medicine at Northeastern University. I had attended two seminaries, and for a short time was a novice in a small Franciscan religious order. Leaving all that behind, I applied science to music, and was working with Berkshire Organs in its final years, where I discovered the absolute wonder of the technology that transmits music from the organist, through the console, windchests and eventually evokes sound from the pipework.

Following the demise of Berkshire Organs in 1989, we formed American Classic Organ Company. While remaining a modest-sized operation, we completed several new instruments and built a respectable service business. We located the workshops in sleepy Chester, Connecticut in 2000.

We came into the Austin picture during the summer of 2005. Through a series of events, we received a letter proposing financial investment or purchase. After several weeks of soul-searching and discussions, we were able to come to an agreement. In January 2006, we purchased the assets and liabilities of the company. Almost immediately a dozen employees returned to their benches, sales representatives arrived back at the door, and the company has begun to rebuild. Several new people have since been added to the roster of Austin employees. The new management aims to build team spirit, stay nimble, and remain rational in the face of terror!

Among the projects completed this year have been dozens of action orders for existing Austin organs (often delivered ahead of schedule). We designed, built and delivered a mahogany four-manual drawknob console in 62 days. It was constructed on the traditional Austin steel-frame system. We completed a major project on an instrument in Lansing, Michigan, which required a new console, utilizing the existing (stripped and refinished) casework, re-actioning, and some tonal additions. A new instrument, Opus 2790, will be installed this coming Easter. This contract was negotiated within a few weeks of restructuring. Several interesting projects are pending for 2007. The metal pipe shop has completed new pipework for the new organ on the floor right now (Opus 2790) and other Austin projects. We have also recently completed extensive repairs and historic renovation on several sets of vintage Aeolian-Skinner pipework at the Mormon Tabernacle. We continue to cast our own pipe metal, and manufacture both flue and reed pipes.

The company is celebrating the milestones of 114 years since the first Austin organ was built, and 70 years since reorganization and move into the current factory. We are on solid footing and in good shape to complete projects large and small, with confident vision of significant growth and expansion.
In quiet moments around the factory, you can hear the faint, yet distinct footsteps of John, Basil, F.B., and Don Austin, as their spirits permeate every process and instrument. The memories of so many gifted and wonderful people who have literally spent their lives here continue to affect our days. They are all a constant reminder of our commitment and challenge to continue Austin’s heritage in American organbuilding. We are humbled to bring new life into this venerable institution, and the many calls and notes we receive encourage us to move forward to celebrate whatever might be the “next milestone.”

—Michael Brian Fazio

David Engen holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music, Magna cum Laude, from St. Olaf College (1971), Master of Arts in Organ Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa (1973), and Master of Science in Software Design and Development from the University of St. Thomas (1988). He is a Senior Manager in Sales and Marketing IT at Seagate Technology in Bloomington, Minnesota, and owns David Engen & Associates, Inc., maintainers of pipe organs in the Twin Cities area and western Wisconsin since 1983. He is a member of the Kimball Organ Steering Committee for the City of Minneapolis, contributes occasionally to various music journals, consults on organ design, and is webmaster for the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists ().

Introduction
W. W. Kimball of Chicago emerged in the 1920s and 1930s as a major builder of quality pipe organs, both “classic” and “theatre” in style. [See R. E. Coleberd, “Three Kimball Pipe Organs in Missouri,” The Diapason, September 2000.] In 1932, Minot Teachers College (now Minot State University, <www.minotstateu.edu>) in Minot, North Dakota, installed a 22-rank Kimball designed by William H. Barnes in the college auditorium. A recent restoration by the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas, has given the organ a second life, and for the first time in over a decade the public can again hear this organ. It now serves as a practice and teaching organ for a new generation of students.

Minot in the 1920s
In the 1880s and 1890s, Minot hosted many gambling houses and saloons. By the 1920s, the city had built new churches, a hospital, established the college as a degree-granting institution, and formed many cultural organizations. By 1928 Minot ranked as one of the most prosperous cities in the country, based on business volume. The Great Northern “Empire Builder” began its Seattle-to-Chicago route in 1929, passing through Minot, and the Soo Line began its “Mountaineer” service between Vancouver and Chicago.
Between 1920 and 1930, Minot’s population increased from 10,476 to 16,099. Music and cultural organizations flourished. As early as 1909, the community presented a December performance of Handel’s Messiah. The Teachers College, known first as the Normal School, offered a music curriculum in 1919. In 1921, the community started a Schumann Club and a 40-member community band. Students from the college performed Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado in 1925. In the summer of 1926 a 150-voice community chorus inspired creation of a permanent Minot Community Chorus, directed by the college’s music department chair. The 60-voice chorus first performed in January 1927. The college orchestra of 52 members first performed in 1929.
The Normal School opened in 1913. Dr. George A. McFarland became president in 1922 at the age of 64 and ran the school until his death in 1938 at the age of 80. By 1924 the Normal School had become Minot State Teachers College and offered a BA degree in education. Old Main had been expanded with a new west wing just before Dr. McFarland began his tenure. By 1925, Old Main had a new north wing housing an auditorium and a gymnasium. The auditorium would later house the Kimball organ and be named for Dr. McFarland.

Purchase
In such a fertile cultural environment, the college and the community of Minot came together to fund the organ project. A $5 gift by Mrs. Emma Cotton in 1925, earmarked specifically for an organ in the new building, started the fund drive. In 1926 the faculty pledged $1300, followed by pledges from students and college organizations, but the total fell far short of the contract amount. The college realized they alone could not fund the $12,500 needed for an acceptable instrument for the auditorium, so they extended the campaign to the business community. As a railroad town, Minot had grown quickly and the business community was active and strong. Pledges reached $10,000, still short of the goal. A final push by the business community a few years after the 1929 stock market crash allowed the college to sign a contract with Kimball at the beginning of 1932. Harry Iverson, well known for organ service and installation in Minneapolis, installed the Kimball in May of that year. Designer William H. Barnes of Evanston, Illinois, dedicated it on June 9. Total project duration, from contract to dedication, was only five months!
At the dedication concert by Dr. Barnes, the following inscription appeared on the front of the dedication brochure:

The Gift Organ . . . is presented to The State Teachers College of Minot, by the Faculty, Alumni and Students of the college and their organizations, generously and appreciatively aided by and supported by citizens of the City of Minot.
In his program, Barnes commented about the tonal design of the organ. His program was as follows:

Grand Choeur Dialogué, Gigout
Reverie, Bonnet
Caprice Héroïque, Bonnet
Choral Improvisation, Karg-Elert
The Legend of the Mountain, Karg-Elert
Andante (Sixth Symphony), Tchaikovsky
Scherzo (First Sonata), James H. Rogers
Pantomime, de Falla
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, J. S. Bach
Prelude to Lohengrin, Wagner

No other news about the organ is readily available until the departure of the last college organist in 1995. Sixty years after installation, the organ was almost silent. It was rarely used until disassembly in preparation for the building restoration.
One wonders about a possible connection between this Kimball and its much larger cousin 500 miles closer to Chicago, the great Kimball installed in the Minneapolis Auditorium in 1928. Separated by only four years, the Minneapolis Kimball has 121 ranks—120 of them playable by the 5-manual “concert” console, and 26 of the unit ranks plus a Kinura playable by the 4-manual “theatre” console. That organ is in storage in the Minneapolis Convention Center, which replaced the old Auditorium, awaiting city funding for restoration. The tonal design of the Minneapolis organ is incredibly complete for an organ designed in the 1920s, with principal, reed, flute and string choruses throughout. Three full-length 32′ stops (Open Diapason, Contra Violone, Contra Bombarde) give the organ majestic weight. Flutes and strings provide a broad range of colors and volumes. Complete principal choruses form a sturdy backbone. Reeds cover the gamut, from soft and imitative to stupendous. Was this design influenced by the local church musicians who had formed the Minot chapter of the American Guild of Organists about a decade earlier, and most of whom had studied in Europe? Did Kimball learn anything while building this huge organ that they applied to the Minot project? We will never know, but the possible connections are intriguing.

Physical layout
The Minot auditorium is much like other theaters built during this era. The main floor and balcony seats face a stage with a proscenium arch and orchestra pit. The backstage area is small. Restrained décor frames the two pipe chambers that face the auditorium from the side walls, just outside the proscenium. One story above the stage floor, the triangular chambers speak directly into the hall. The large shutter openings hold a double height shutter front. Acoustics are typical of a modest-sized theater, having a “ring” but no distinct reverberation.
This layout is problematic for performances with a chorus on the stage due to the closeness of the chambers to the listeners, which make balance and coordination with the singers a challenge. Discussions to correct this problem included the possibility of sound openings added to the rear of the chambers, and/or possibly a positive organ, able to be controlled from the main console. Funds did not allow this issue to be resolved at the time of restoration.
The left chamber houses the Great/Choir pipes on two levels, with the Pedal 16′ Open Wood on offset chests around the perimeter. The Great, mostly on the lower chest, plays many of the Choir stops as well. The Choir stops and the Harp occupy the upper level.
The right chamber houses the Swell, again on two levels. The upper chest holds the unit stops—the trebles of the Bourdon/Chimney Flute and the Trumpet. Offsets of the 16′ Bourdon, the 16′ Trumpet and other 8′ basses line the perimeter. Below the 16′ Bourdon basses is the “Vox in a box,” with its own tremulant.
Both chambers are full of pipes. Reservoirs on the floor under the chests make access for servicing a challenge. There are many ladders and walk boards, so the pipes are easy to reach for tuning. Lighting is good.

The need for restoration
After 1995 when the last college organist left the university, visitors played the organ occasionally. When dismantled before the building restoration in 2002, it barely played since the damaged basement wind line restricted airflow. Windchest leather was still intact, although the exposed leather of the high-pressure reservoirs was not in good condition and failed shortly after arrival in Lawrence. Bear in mind the upper Midwest experiences huge temperature and humidity swings each season. Humidity ranges from as low as 5% in the winter to more than 90% in August. This exposed the wood and leather parts to a great deal of stress every year of their life. It is amazing to consider that after 60 years the organ still worked as well as it did. This is a testament to the quality of materials and workmanship of the Kimball Company.
Before his retirement, President Erik Shaar spearheaded a building restoration project, which included the organ. The organ committee selected several regional and national organ building and service companies as possible contractors. Five firms submitted bids, and the committee awarded the contract to the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas. A community and college organ committee, chaired by Dr. Doris Slaaten, Professor Emeritus of Business, undertook the fund-raising. A single pledge of $100,000 helped kick off the campaign—far more than the original $5 gift from Mrs. Cotton in 1925! The college renamed McFarland Hall to Ann Nicole Nelson Hall after a victim of the World Trade Center attack of 9/11.
With a decline in the rail industry, Minot has been reasonably successful in finding its fortune in other industries, including hosting a nearby Air Force base and persisting as a major regional shopping destination. While Minot remains a prosperous community of some 35,000, its once large and active churches, many of Scandinavian heritage, are today a shadow of their 1920s glory years. As found in many communities, large buildings built for large congregations with big choirs and active music programs are no longer filled for worship. In an attempt to recapture the crowds, many clergy have resorted to “modern ensembles” and “blended worship,” aiming at a new common denominator that theoretically attracts the young. The organ is often not part of the equation.
Interest in the pipe organ is thus waning in Minot as it is in many communities. The small community of organists, all of whom have made their primary living in other occupations, heroically came to the aid of the university’s Kimball and helped in the fund-raising.

Reuter today
In its 90-year history the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas (<www.reuterorgan.com&gt;) has grown from a regional firm to an industry-leading builder with a national presence. Like most of the major organ builders in the country, the Reuter shop, found less than an hour from Kansas City, is now managed by a new generation. Since the life cycle of a pipe organ is so long, changes in administration and philosophy of the builder do not show quickly on the national stage. This is true of Reuter, where Albert Neutel Jr. (“JR”) has recently taken over management from his father Albert Sr., who in turn had run the company following the long tenure of Franklin Mitchell. Reuter recently moved out of their downtown Lawrence building into a new shop at the north edge of Lawrence, home of the University of Kansas. The building was designed specifically for organ building. Raw materials arrive at the north end, all manner of manufacturing occurs in the middle, and assembly, testing and shipment occur at the south end. Some of the special features of the building are visible in the high assembly room near the shipping dock. There is a wood floor that allows the workers to screw organ parts in place. A gantry crane at the ceiling positions heavy parts anywhere in the room. Windows admit natural light. A balcony on two sides allows workers to move about without the need to assemble scaffolding. This room is large enough that several instruments could be undergoing assembly simultaneously.
There are many other features of the building worth noting. The large central shop includes space for making both wood and metal pipes, wind chests, casework, consoles, keyboards, and other small parts, as well as a large area devoted to pouch board assembly. Other rooms include the computer-controlled CNC router, metal casting, a large spray booth, drafting rooms, several voicing rooms isolated from shop noise, and executive offices and meeting rooms.
The Reuter crew makes almost all of their own parts. Through engineering and experimentation, the staff incorporates reliability and longevity into all of their components. Extensive testing of parts results in improvements based on scientific evidence and experiment. Rebuilds of older Reuters bring naturally aged parts through the shop. Where they find deficiencies of design in areas such as console construction, the staff can design in changes so future parts will be better and last longer.
Reuter is a small company with its roots in the heartland, and its people exhibit the common Midwestern traits of honesty and hard work. Their philosophy is inspired by the musical possibilities that present themselves with each project. They seek to build a solid and reliable product based on their own experiences with electro-pneumatic actions, yet informed by the benefits of computerized drafting and scientific inquiry. Some examples of this are:
• Adapting the Blackinton-style slider chest where suitable.
• Exclusive use of welded copper pipes (not soldered) rather than zinc where there is a possibility of pipe collapse during aging.
• A cleverly engineered solution for mounting horizontal trumpet pipes that encourages tuning stability.
• A method of “preplaying” keyboards during construction so keyboards will not need depth adjustment after installation.
• A redundant key contact that almost eliminates the possibility of dead notes caused by contact failure.
Over the decades, Reuter has built hundreds of organs in a wide range of acoustic settings. This experience has defined the pipe materials and scaling schemes. Most clients choosing to go the route of an electro-pneumatic instrument want the flexibility of a movable console, sub- and super-couplers, extensions and duplexing. Today, Reuter is creating both new instruments and rebuilding old ones.

Details of the restoration
This project was not a total historic restoration in the Organ Historical Society sense of the term. The OHS presents the following guidelines for restoration (last revised in 1986) on their website (<www.organsociety.org/html/historic/restore.html&gt;):
• In general, all extant original components should be preserved and properly repaired.
• Pipework should be carefully repaired by a professional pipemaker, replacements for missing pipes being made of the same material and construction details as the originals.
• Keyboards, stop controls, and other console components should be kept in, or restored to, their original condition.
• Pitman, ventil and other forms of tubular-pneumatic or electro-pneumatic wind chests should be restored using original techniques of design and construction and compatible materials and replacement parts.
• Original bellows, reservoirs, wind trunks, concussion bellows, and other components that determine the wind characteristics of any organ should always be retained and releathered.
• It is highly desirable that a restorer keep detailed records, measurements, photographs, etc. during the course of the restoration work.
Project organizers not only wanted to return the organ to like-new condition, but they also wanted a reliable instrument that will serve the current and future needs of the college. To that end, a genuine restoration was neither desirable nor practical. The console, for instance, was not salvageable. Reuter and the planners undertook the following, as detailed in the contract:

1. Releather all wind chests, including note pouches (1541), primaries (447), stop actions (15). (Reuter carefully reproduced leather thickness under OHS guidelines. All pouch springs were returned to their original notes. When winded there were no ciphers.)
2. Replace stop action connectors and all pitmans (903).
3. Releather Chime action.
4. Releather Harp action.
5. Releather expression motor power pneumatics (20) and primaries.
6. Releather tremolo motors (4).
7. Releather concussion bellows (4).
8. Replace all chest magnets (943).
9. Replace all tuning slides on metal flue stops with new stainless slides.
10. Repack all tuning stoppers on wood pipes.
11. Repair tuning scrolls on reed stops.
12. Make necessary repairs to any damaged pipes.
13. Provide miscellaneous replacements for missing pipes, made to match. (Only a few were missing.)
14. Clean and revoice all reed stops (5), with new tongues as needed. (In fact, the reeds were in such good condition after cleaning that they needed only minor changes.)
15. Clean all metal pipes.
16. Clean all wood pipes and parts and give all a new coat of lacquer.
17. Build a new 3-manual console with a movable platform and storage closet offstage.
18. New microprocessor solid-state switching and combination action.
19. New DC power supplies (organ, console).
20. At the suggestion of a consultant early in the project a digital 16′ extension for Choir Geigen Diapason notes 1–12 was proposed. (A new unit action replaced the straight action. Reuter retained the original action so it can be restored easily in the future if desired.)

A Reuter crew moved the many parts, already in storage, to the shop in Lawrence. There were no drawings of the layout, and none of the Reuter crew had ever seen the organ assembled in its Minot home. They undertook to reassemble everything and succeeded in figuring it out. The crew carefully measured everything, including the rise of the various bellows, before releathering. At the start of the work, plant manager Robert Vaughan told the crew that their charge was to restore all parts to like-new condition, in the style of the original Kimball work. It was not to be “Reuterized.” After cleaning, voicers checked the pipes and made only minor changes. Fortunately, the organ had suffered from “benign neglect” and was essentially as Kimball had left it.
The organ stands today in excellent condition. The clean pipes, with shiny tuning slides, look new. Even the wood pipes, with a new coat of lacquer, could be mistaken for new. New leather on all exposed reservoirs is clean and supple, and the key action is fast and crisp. The new console is beautiful and convenient to play. It has built-in wheels for movement to offstage storage, with just a few wires to connect to a convenient receptacle backstage. Reuter is justifiably proud of the result.
The restoration shows a few minor changes from the original tonal design. The biggest change was converting the 8′ Geigen Principal of the Choir from a straight stop into a unit stop, thus making it available at several pitches on both the Great and Choir. All parts from the original configuration are in storage, according to OHS guidelines, so it could be restored as a straight stop again in the future.

Rededication
Diane Bish played a dedication concert on October 19, 2004 to mark completion of the project. The well-received program adequately showcased the many colors in this small organ:

Now Thank We All Our God, Karg-Elert
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Bach
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Bach
Bolero de Concert, Lefébure-Wély
Carillon de Westminster, Vierne
Jubilation Suite, Gordon Young
Three Hymn Improvisations, arr. Bish
Nimrod (“Enigma” Variations), Elgar
Toccata (Symphony V), Widor

In remarks and in the program text, the organ was presented to the community as complete.

Impressions
Kimball was one of the top builders of the era. Beautifully made pipes sit on a solid mechanism. It is no surprise, then, that this organ holds many lovely sounds.
The strings probably are the most satisfying to our ears today. The Salicional and its Celeste are gems, both of construction and of sound. The tapered Flute Dolce and its Celeste are ravishing in their beauty. Coming in third is the delicate Dulciana and its flat Unda Maris.
There are just a few flutes on this organ. Most interesting is the Choir Concert Flute, of Melodia form in the tenor range, but double length and over-blowing in the melodic range. It mimics the orchestral flute, yet its tone is mild. The round but delicate Swell Rohr Bourdon is the real workhorse, having to provide six pitches in the Swell. The true solo flute is the Doppel Flute of the Great.
There are eight diapasons of various pitches and scales. There is a principal chorus on the Great, with double 8′s, a 4′, and the original Grave Mixture now available as independent 2-2/3′ and 2′. There is no mixture in the organ. The Swell has its own 8′ as does the Choir. The Pedal has a 16′ Wood Diapason. Note in the original dedication program the scaling of some of the manual diapasons. Great Diapason I is scale 40, Swell Diapason is scale 42, and Great Diapason II is smaller at scale 44.
Five reeds occupy positions on all three manual divisions. The Swell Vox Humana and Choir Clarinet are soft and typical of the period. The Swell Corno d’Amour, in the shape of a trumpet, produces the sound of an oboe but with slightly more body. Perhaps because of its unification at three Swell pitches and three Pedal pitches, the large and dark Swell Trumpet dominates the organ.
Through no fault of Reuter, the organ is somewhat disappointing in the room. Reuter did, in fact, bring up the trebles of many ranks to even them out. This organ was designed to play period literature and transcriptions, but it simply isn’t big enough to move the volume of air in the room. A tubby Pedal Diapason, a refined but small Great Diapason chorus, and one dominating reed do not make much of an overwhelming impression in the room. At a recent performance of the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with the local orchestra, some listeners wondered when the organ was going to come in! This comment may have more to do with the Kimball orchestral voicing than with its effect in the room. A similar comment was heard following a performance of the same symphony by the Minnesota Orchestra with the 120-rank Minneapolis Auditorium Kimball, which had no problem making a big impression by itself!
Is it fair to criticize this organ from a 21st-century perspective for being something it was never intended to be? Probably not! It came out of the theatre organ era when the “classics” were largely transcriptions from the orchestral repertoire. Note the literature Barnes played at the first dedication, which included Tchaikovsky, de Falla and Wagner. Yet this is clearly not a theatre organ. Unlike its much larger brother in Minneapolis, there are no complete diapason and reed choruses, and unification provides most of the upperwork. It is a baby symphonic organ, not intended to be loud and not intended to perform what we now consider to be the classics of the organ literature. It came from a different philosophy—but it was built like a tank!
The rebirth of an organ department appears to be on the horizon (there are 3–4 beginners now), and the organ can serve admirably for teaching the basics of technique. Its lovely and subtle colors are appropriate for teaching and the fundamentals of trio playing, hymn playing and registration. Should the department grow, however, teaching the larger repertoire, organ history, and registration would be a challenge. The faculty would need to rely on the use of nearby (and larger) church organs. This idea is not new, and there are several large organs not far from the campus.

Conclusion
In spite of the Great Depression, the community leaders of Midwestern Minot made a major investment in their college in 1932. They could not see into the future where, just a few years later, teacher salaries would be cut by 40% and faculty would be required to live on campus. They had the foresight to acquire a top-quality organ, also built in the Midwest, which served for many decades before unavoidable wear required a restoration. The Reuter Organ Company we know today, founded just over a decade before the Kimball’s construction, is a company of individuals sharing a similar background. It seems fitting that time should bring the two together. Their meeting was mutually worthwhile: Reuter gained experience from one of the top organ builders of the early 20th century, and Minot got what is essentially a new organ. The community of Minot will be much richer for it.n

Thanks are due to Prof. Charles Dickson of Minot State University for his 1985 draft of “Minot History 1920–1940,” available on the Internet. Thanks also to Kari Files, Selmer Moen, and Gary Stenehjem for behind the scenes information about the project. Thanks also to the staff of Reuter, and especially to JR Neutel and Robert Vaughan who gave a detailed tour of the Reuter shop.

R. E. Coleberd is a contributing editor of The Diapason.

Introduction
This article is the second in a series exploring the role of the King of Instruments in American culture. The first article, “The Mortuary Pipe Organ: A Neglected Chapter in the History of Organbuilding in America,” was published in the July 2004 issue of The Diapason.1 (Others to follow will discuss organs in hospitals, hotels, soldiers’ homes and war memorials.) The era of the Masonic Lodge pipe organ, embracing close to 700 instruments, began in the 1860s, reached its zenith in the first three decades of the twentieth century, and with certain exceptions ended shortly after World War II.2 In the religious, ritualistic format of the Masonic movement, the pipe organ made a statement. It was deemed essential to crown the ambiance of the journey through the several chapters of the order (Blue Lodge, Royal Arch, Scottish Rite, Shrine and other “Rites”), and it complemented the majestic buildings, often architectural masterpieces, which contributed significantly to an attractive urban landscape. A closer look at the market, the instrument, and the builders reveals key features of this fascinating epoch, which surely belongs in the rich and colorful history of pipe organ building in America.

The Masonic Lodge
The Masonic Lodge was a broad-based, worldwide social and cultural movement with origins in antiquity, which counted the St. John’s Lodge in Boston, established in 1733, as its beginning in this country. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were Masons.3 Encompassing immigration, urbanization, social solidarity and individual identity, it satisfied a desire to belong. Lodge membership was a mark of recognition and status in the community, and a transcending emotional experience in ritual and décor in the otherwise anonymous atmosphere of urban life. A noted German sociologist, Max Weber, visiting America in 1905, spoke of voluntary associations “as bridging the transition between the closed hierarchical society of the Old World and the fragmented individualism of the New World” and saw them performing a “crucial social function” in American life.4 The well-known social commentator and newspaper columnist, Max Lerner, in his epic work America as a Civilization, saw one of the motivations behind “joining” as “the integrative impulse of forming ties with like-minded people and thus finding status in the community.”5 Ray Willard, organist at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Joplin, Missouri (M. P. Möller Opus 3441, 1922), observes that membership embraced all walks of life: from business and professional men, many of them community leaders and perhaps well-to-do, to everyday citizens.6 Masonic membership paralleled population growth and reached a peak in the first three decades of the twentieth century. New York State counted 872 lodges and 230,770 members in 1903.7 Pre-World War II Masonic membership in the United States totaled 3,295,872 in 1928.8
Of special interest is the long-recognized connection between the railroad industry and the Masonic Lodge. Railroad men were lodge men, and railroad towns were lodge towns. The railroad was the predominant conveyance in freight and passenger travel in the first decades of the last century. In 1916, railroad mileage in this country peaked at 254,000 miles, and in 1922, railroad employment reached over two million workers, the largest labor force in the American economy.9 These totals reflected the number of trains and crews, station, yard, and track workers, and the maintenance demands of the steam locomotive. The comparatively well-paid railroad workers were no doubt important in building Masonic temples. In 1920, average wages in the railroad industry were 33 percent above those in manufacturing.10 In one of what must have been numerous examples, Masonic employees of the Big Four Railroad in Indianapolis donated eight art-glass windows on the east wall of the second floor foyer of the Scottish Rite Cathedral there (q.v.).11

The market
The Masonic Lodge market differed significantly from other pipe organ markets. For the larger facilities in metropolitan locations, the Masonic building was typically a matrix of rooms, often on several stories, and each with a different décor, e.g., Corinthian Hall, Gothic Hall, Ionic Hall. Each chapter room required a pipe organ to support the ritual proceedings. The centerpiece of the building was the auditorium, manifestly different from a church sanctuary. Typically square in layout, it featured a large curtained stage in front, cushioned opera-chair seating on the main floor, and perhaps side and end balconies. The pipe chambers were quite often in the proscenium above the stage, with other divisions almost anywhere—in back of the stage, above a side balcony, in a rear balcony, etc. Occasionally, chambers with a pipe fence flanked either side of the stage. The organ console was on the floor in front of the stage.
It was especially important that the auditorium instrument look large. Just as an upright or spinet piano would have been out of place on the stage, so too would a two-manual organ console be inappropriate on the floor in front of the stage. It must be a concert grand piano on the stage and a three-manual, better yet a four-manual console on the auditorium floor, with lots of drawknobs or stop tabs for everyone to see. To achieve this image of “bigness” within the limitations of chamber space or perhaps budget, builders often resorted to extensive unification and duplexing.
The Masonic Lodge pipe organ era began in 1860 when E. & G. G. Hook built one-manual instruments for temples in Massachusetts: in Lawrence, 14 registers, Opus 275, and in New Bedford, 12 registers, Opus 281.12 In 1863, William A. Johnson built a one-manual instrument of nine registers, Opus 144, for the lodge in Geneva, New York.13 In 1867, Joseph Mayer, California’s first organbuilder, built an instrument for the “Free Masons” in San Francisco.14 The three organs built by Jardine in 1869 for New York City, in this case for the Odd Fellows Hall, marked the beginning of what would become a salient feature of the lodge market: multiple instruments for one building, often under one contract and several with identical stoplists.15 (See Table 1.) One particularly interesting example was the three instruments Hutchings built for the Masonic Lodge in Boston in 1899. The stoplists were identical (q.v.), but each one was in a different case to conform to the décor of the room. Wind from a single blower was directed to one instrument by a valve opened when the console lid was raised, turning on the blower.16
The pinnacle of the multiple contract practice came first in 1909, when Austin built twelve organs for the Masonic Lodge in New York City; in 1927, when Möller built nine for a temple in Cincinnati, Ohio. Eleven of the twelve Austins were identical two-manual instruments, eight of the nine Möllers.17 An Austin stock model that found its way into the Masonic market was the Chorophone, introduced in 1916. Austin sold nine of these instruments to Masonic Lodges. Opus 896 was exported to the lodge in Manila, the Philippine Islands, in 1920.18

The instrument
R. E. Wagner, vice-president of Organ Supply Industries, points out that the Masonic Lodge pipe organ followed closely—tonally and mechanically—the evolution of the King of Instruments in this country: from the one- and two- manual classic-style tracker organs of the nineteenth century to a brief sojourn with tubular-pneumatic action at the turn of the century, followed by the symphonic-orchestral tonal paradigm and sophisticated electro-pneumatic windchest and console action in the 1920s. It also followed a return to the American classic style beginning later in that decade.19 The liturgy-based nature of Masonic ritual would suggest a church-type instrument, one in which eight-foot pitch predominated. This was true in the beginning and in smaller instruments.
The three Hutchings instruments in Boston (q.v.), Opus 475–477, were each fourteen ranks.20 The eleven identical Austin instruments for New York City in 1909 had five ranks: an 8? Open Diapason on the Great with four ranks duplexed from the Swell (8? Stopped Diapason, 8? Dulciana, 8? Viol d’Orchestra, and 4? Harmonic Flute). There was no pedal. The twelfth organ on this contract was a 17-rank, three-manual organ with the Choir manual duplexed entirely from the ten-rank Swell manual. The seven stops of the Pedal organ were all extensions of manual stops.21 Austin’s two-manual Chorophone comprised four ranks—Bourdon, Dolce, Open Diapason and Viole—unified into 27 speaking stops from 16? to 2?.22
By the 1920s, the Golden Age of the Masonic Lodge pipe organ, the three- or four-manual organ in the lodge auditorium was frequently an eclectic instrument, embracing theatre stops and even toy counters in addition to traditional liturgical stops. Add to this a “quaint” stop now and then, i.e., a bugle call. Did you ever hear of Solomon’s Trumpet? (See 1926-2000 Kimball, Guthrie, Oklahoma q.v.) As Willard points out, these instruments were designed to play the marches, patriotic selections, and orchestral and opera transcriptions used in ritual work, as well as theatre organ and popular music of the day when the auditorium was used for entertainment.23
The mixing of liturgical and theatre stops reflected the fact that in the 1920s the concept of organ music was broadly defined, and with the introduction of the theatre organ, the distinction between liturgical and theatre voicing and sound was blurred. If anything, the eight-foot pitch tonal palette of the church organ, characterized then by wide-scale diapasons and flutes, narrow-scale strings, high-pressure reeds, and the absence of mutations and mixtures, served to further obscure this distinction.
Two stops particularly symbolic of this era and that disappeared until recently, the Stentorphone and the Ophicleide, were found in large lodge organs. Manuel Rosales, well-known California organbuilder, believes they can best be explained as items of fashion. “As the Hope-Jones ideas influenced the times with very large diapasons, the idea of the Stentorphone being a sort of superstar of the diapason family found its way into legitimate specifications. It was placed on the Solo manual rather than being put on the main divisions, and in that capacity wouldn’t destroy the balance between the stops on the Great. Couple the Solo to the Great and it works to beef things up.”24 With the tremolo on the Solo, the Stentorphone could also be used as a solo stop.
The ophicleide, a 19th-century brass orchestral instrument, was said to have been invented in Paris about 1817. It was popular in symphony and opera orchestras and in military bands of the 1830s and 1840s, being eventually replaced by the modern tuba. As a fashionable organ stop, the Ophicleide might appear on the Great manual as a powerful, high-pressure reed, a double tuba which, when coupled to the customary 8? Tuba on this manual, formed a chorus.25
The predominant characteristics of the three- and four-manual Masonic Lodge pipe organs, with the exception of those built by E. M. Skinner, seem obvious when viewed from the stoplists discussed below. They confirm our assumption that the Masonic Lodge instrument differed markedly from other pipe organs. Beginning with extensive unification and duplexing, the number of stops is double or more the number of ranks of pipes. Pedal divisions with only one or two independent ranks were typical, and duplicate consoles, the second perhaps a two-manual to control two divisions, were found. Sometimes second touch and a roll player were added to the console. The high-pressure reeds of the day, Ophicleide and Tuba, found on the Great division, required higher wind pressure than the flues to achieve their desired tone quality and power—ten inches versus six inchePs—and therefore were placed on a separate windchest. The Vox Humana was often placed in its own enclosure. Each manual division had a tremolo, and often individual stops such as the Diapason, Tibia and Vox Humana had separate tremolos. The entire instrument was often totally enclosed. Duplexing and unification were made possible by the complex and sophisticated switching in windchest and console innovations that marked the American builders during this period and that made their product by far the most technologically advanced in the world.
The three-manual Kimball organ, Opus 6781, in the Denver Scottish Rite Cathedral, now Consistory, with 19 ranks, 50 stops and 1,459 pipes, illustrates these features (see stoplist). On the Great division, five ranks comprise eleven speaking stops—four ranks with extensions—and only the 8? Tuba is an independent (one pitch) voice. The Diapason and Tuba each have their own tremolo. The Solo (second) division comprises 10 ranks and 20 stops, with the Gedeckt unified into six stops, from 16? to 13?5?. The third division, designated the Accompaniment manual, counts four ranks and seven unit stops duplexed from the Great. The organist, Charles Shaeffer, comments that the English Horn on the Accompaniment manual is unique to Kimball, voiced closer to the Oboe in contrast to an English Horn on theatre organs, which resembles an English Post Horn. He adds that the Marimba on the Solo is “reiterating,” meaning that it repeats rapidly and therefore contrasts with the single-stroke Harp on the Great.26 The String Mixture is wired from the Salicional, and the Orchestral Oboe from the Gedeckt and Viol d’Orchestra. The Tibia Clausa is independent and has its own tremolo. The nine-stop Pedal organ is entirely duplexed from the Great and Solo divisions. The bugle call is played by buttons above the keyboards. The manual compass is 73 pipes, adopted by many builders during this period to forgo upperwork and achieve brilliance through the 4? coupler, a primary registration aid.27 All divisions are enclosed, and each manual has at least one tremolo. The toy counter and pedal second touch complete the instrument.
The 8? Wald Horn on the Great, a departure from traditional pipework nomenclature, requires an explanation. A Wald Horn is customarily a chorus reed with English shallots, voiced somewhere between a Trumpet and an Oboe.28 In this example, unique to Kimball and employed briefly, 1922–1924, it is a spotted-metal tapered (one-half) open flue rank of medium scale. With more definition than a stopped flute, but with limited harmonics, it is horn-like and perhaps best described as a heavy spitzflute.29 Noteworthy in Kimball organs, and a lasting legacy of this builder, are the superb strings, the work of the legendary voicer George Michel. As the late David Junchen commented: “Michel’s strings set the standard by which all others were judged. Their richness, timbre and incredible promptness of speech, even in the 32? octave, have never been surpassed.”30

Four and five manuals
The four- and five-manual Masonic Lodge era began in 1912, when Hook & Hastings built a 53-rank, 62-stop, five-manual instrument for the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Dallas. Far less unified than later work and with a 61-pipe compass for manual stops, it reflected the church organ background of this eastern builder. But it did contain a Stentorphone and Ophicleide, two consoles, and a player mechanism.31 The next year, 1915, Austin built a five-manual, 74-rank, 89-stop, 4,860-pipe organ, Opus 558, for the Medinah Temple in Chicago. Now in storage, this instrument was for many years the largest Masonic Lodge pipe organ in America and was, perhaps, the best known among the organist fraternity.32
The four- and five-manual market was largely the province of the nationally known major builders Austin, Estey, Kimball, Möller and Skinner (see Table 2). They used large lodge installations in their sales pitch, and buyers were no doubt influenced by them in their choice of builder. Describing their four-manual Möller, Opus 3441, 1922, in Joplin, Missouri, the Scottish Rite Cathedral states: “There were five four-manual organs built by Möller in the early 1920s similar to the Joplin organ. They are in the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., the Scottish Rite pipe organ in San Antonio, Texas, Temple Beth-El, New York City, and the Masonic Building, Memphis, Tennessee.”33 Michael Brooks, recent Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the St. Louis Scottish Rite Cathedral, points out that his temple is the proud owner of one of four Kimball four-manual lodge organs. The others are Guthrie, Oklahoma (q.v.), Minneapolis (now in storage), and Oklahoma City.34
The lodge market also reflected the work of John A. Bell (1864–1935), a prolific designer, who in 1927 was said to have drawn up specifications for over 500 pipe organs in the eastern United States. Bell, a Mason, was organist at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh for over 40 years.35 Allen Kinzey, Aeolian-Skinner veteran, says Bell’s stoplists typically included a large-scale, heavy-metal, leather-lipped, unenclosed 8? Diapason on the Great. Also, all manual stops of 16? and 8? pitch (excluding celestes) had 73 pipes, while stops of 4? pitch and above had 61.36 Bell designed instruments for Masonic temples in Cincinnati and Dayton and the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Indianapolis.37 (q.v.)
Indianapolis
The Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner five-manual, eight-division, 77-rank, 81-stop, 5,022-pipe organ in the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Indianapolis, Opus 696-696B, is the largest instrument in the Masonic movement in America today (see stoplist). The building’s title is appropriate because it is most likely the largest such edifice ever built in this country and is beyond doubt the most lavishly appointed, replete with Masonic symbolism at every turn: stone carvings and figurines, 70 art glass windows, and elevator door decoration. This architectural masterpiece is crowned by a 212-foot main tower, housing a 63-bell Taylor (Loughborough, England) carillon. The Medieval Gothic interior features imported Carpathian white oak, Russian curly oak, and Italian, Tennessee and Vermont marble.38
This signature instrument was built in 1929 by E. M. Skinner, with four manuals, 65 ranks, 68 stops, 4,365 pipes.39 Skinner had defined his instrument in building church organs and he stayed very close to this paradigm in his lodge installations. With comparatively limited unification and duplexing, this organ features a mixture, mutations and principal chorus on the Great. This organ reflects the influence of John Bell (q.v.). Manual compass is 73 notes for foundation stops, 8? and below, and 61 notes for 4? stops and above. The First Diapason on the Great is 38 scale, heavy metal and leather-lipped. The Second Diapason is 40 scale, a customary scale for the first diapason. These two stops plus the 16? Open Diapason and 8? Gross Flute are unenclosed. The tremolo on the Great is described as high and low wind, reflecting the difference in wind pressure between the flues and the reeds. The Great reeds are on 12-inch wind as is the entire Solo manual, the latter likely because of the Stentorphone there, also 38 scale, heavy metal, and leathered. The Solo Tuba Mirabilis is on 20 inches of wind and not affected by the tremolo. The Diapason on the Swell is also 40 scale and leathered. The 4? Celestial Harp on the Great is subject to sub and super (octave) couplers. The Cathedral Chimes on the Echo has 25 tubes, from tenor C. A description in The Diapason commented: “Couplers and pistons will increase the number of playing devices at the command of the performer to 158.”40 In 1949, Aeolian-Skinner enlarged this instrument with two new divisions of four ranks each.41 A new five-manual console by Reisner was installed in 1969.42

St. Louis
The four-manual Kimball in the Scottish Rite Cathedral in St. Louis, now awaiting restoration, illustrates other features of the lodge pipe organ (see stoplist). With 113 speaking stops from 54 ranks of pipes, a virtually complete toy counter plus piano, marimba, xylophone, harp, chimes and orchestral bells, it is perhaps the apex of the four-manual lodge instrument, a veritable music-making machine. In this organ, the basic manual stop compass is 61 notes and the 8? pitch dominates the tonal palette. Among the 24 stops from ten ranks on the Great, the Principal Diapason is wood and the Twelfth and Fifteenth are taken from the Waldhorn (q.v.). This instrument doesn’t have a mixture on the Great or pretend to have a principal chorus; it is a collection of orchestral colors, including the luxury of three 16? open flues on the Swell, all oriented to fundamental tone as illustrated by the Phonon Diapason there, which emphasizes the eight-foot tone.43 The unit Gedeckt on the Swell speaks as six stops, from 16? to 13?5?. The Swell has separate tremolos for the Tibia Clausa and the strings. The Vox Humana vibratos on the Swell and the Echo are a tremolo. The Pedal organ counts 25 stops derived from two ranks; a 32? Bourdon, and a 32? Bombarde with three extensions. The rest are borrowed from or extensions of manual stops.

The builders
The lodge market was important to American builders in new installations, repeat sales, replacing trackers with modern instruments, additions and upgrades. The bulk of these organs were, not surprisingly, two-manual instruments, and some were stock models, designed to accommodate what we have elsewhere called the commodity segment of the market.44 For small instruments, there was scarcely any brand preference or real or imagined product differentiation to the buyer. To these lodges an organ was an organ and the sooner the better. As in other markets, a second-hand trade emerged with instruments sold to Masonic Lodges from elsewhere.
Table 3 portrays the work of thirteen builders, names familiar today. The larger firms—Austin, Estey, Kimball and Möller, well known coast-to-coast through numerous installations and with aggressive sales representation—accounted for the majority of lodge instruments. Factory production dominated the industry during this period, and these builders could meet any requirement: budget, placement and timetable. Regional builders Hillgreen-Lane and Pilcher also enjoyed lodge business, as did many local firms. In 1917, Reuben Midmer & Sons counted six organs for the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn. Lewis & Hitchcock built instruments for Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.45 In California, an early last-century firm, the Murray M. Harris Company, built lodge organs for Fresno, Oakland, and San Francisco, California as well as for Santa Fe, New Mexico.46 In 1928, the Rochester Pipe Organ Company built two identical three-manual, 20-rank instruments for the Masonic Temple in Rochester, New York.47 In 1908, the Adrian Organ Company rebuilt a nine-rank, one-manual organ, from two prior locations, for the Masonic Temple in Adrian, Michigan.48
The lodge market also figured in the locational history of the American organ industry. In 1859, the Pilcher Brothers, then in St. Louis, built a one-manual organ for the Golden Rule Lodge there. In April 1863, perhaps in search of a market opportunity, they moved to Chicago where, in September, they contracted to build a one-manual organ for the Oriental Lodge there.49 In 1919, the Reuter-Schwartz Company of Trenton, Illinois built an instrument for the Masonic Temple in Lawrence, Kansas. This prompted their move to Lawrence, having found a source of capital in the Russell family who, in turn, found a business opportunity for their son Charlie, just graduated from the University of Kansas. Charlie Russell became the bookkeeper at Reuter, and the Russell family owned Reuter for many years.50
Many of the larger instruments, sources of pride for these lodges, are regularly serviced and updated as needed, perhaps with major funding from prominent members. When the signature 1926 Kimball in the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Guthrie, Oklahoma (four manuals, 67 ranks, 72 speaking stops, 5,373 pipes)51 required renovation in 1990, Judge and Mrs. Frederick Daugherty financed the project. The work, by long-time curators McCrary Pipe Organ Company of Oklahoma City, included solid-state switching and relays, new keyboards, and new stop and combination action. A digital recording and playback unit was installed, so the instrument can be played for tours of the building—a common practice in large temples. Completing the project was installation of a full-length 32? Pedal Bombarde, built by F. J. Rogers in England, and a horizontal trumpet, dutifully called Solomon’s Trumpet, reflecting the role of King Solomon and his temple in Masonic ritual.52

Summary and conclusions
The Masonic Lodge pipe organ is another illustration of the role of the King of Instruments in American culture. The Masons, a culturally and socially prominent feature of American life, found the instrument an economic and efficient vehicle in meeting the musical needs of their ritual proceedings. The tonal resources of the larger instruments afforded almost unlimited capabilities in the full spectrum of instrumental music. This was made possible by technological advances in organbuilding, which mark a singular achievement of the American industry. In many locations, these magnificent instruments enjoy the respect and admiration of today’s Masonic membership, and in the larger organ world are recognized as a vital segment in the rich and colorful history of pipe organ building in America.

For research assistance and critical comments on earlier drafts of this paper, the author gratefully acknowledges: Jack Bethards, E. A. Boadway, Michael Brooks, Mark Caldwell, John Carnahan, Ronald Dean, Dave Fabry, Steuart Goodwin, Keith Gottschall, Allen Kinzey, Fred Kortepeter, Dennis Milnar, Rick Morel, George Nelson, Albert Neutel, Orpha Ochse, Don Olson, Louis Patterson, Michael Quimby, Michele Raeburn, Robert Reich, Gary Rickert, Manuel Rosales, Dorothy Schaake, Kurt Schakel, Alan Sciranko, Charles Shaeffer, Jack Sievert, Richard Taylor, R. E. Wagner, Martin Walsh and Ray Willard.