Spring Hill United Methodist Church

Zion’s Lutheran Church, East Germantown, Indiana

A native of Indiana, Michael Rathke received his early organbuilding training with Goulding & Wood, Inc. He subsequently served a formal five-year apprenticeship plus a further two journeyman years with C.B. Fisk, Inc. In 2002 he traveled to England to work with Mander Organs, assisting with the refurbishment of the 1871 Willis organ in London’s Royal Albert Hall and the restoration of the 1766 George England organ at the Danson Mansion in Kent. Upon his return to the United States in 2004, Rathke established his own workshop, where his focus continues to be the building, restoration, and conservation of fine mechanical-action instruments.

I first visited Zion’s Lutheran Church in 1986, near the beginning of my organbuilding apprenticeship. I recall surprise in discovering that the venerable M.P. Möller, with whose plentiful local electro-pneumatic installations I was familiar, had once built mechanical-action instruments. If Zion’s organ were representative, Möller’s tracker output had clearly been more than respectable. Apart from a stiff key action, the organ was a pleasure to play, and its 16 stops made a grand sound in this relatively small church.

My next visit came 25 years later, shortly after setting up my own workshop nearby. On this occasion I was less struck by the Möller’s quality than by its evident deterioration. The organ looked fine, having recently received cosmetic repairs; its basic sound also remained fairly convincing, if not precisely as I remembered. But mechanically, the organ was a mess. The key action was heavy, sticky, and unpredictable; both manual windchests were suffering from obvious and severe sponsil damage; and the two reservoirs (supply-house units that had replaced the original double-rise) were living on borrowed time. Ciphers that could not be rectified abounded; other notes would barely play because their channels had been excessively bled to alleviate sponsil ciphers. The parishioners of Zion’s remained proud of their historic organ, admired its sound, and affirmed that it had served well since arriving in 1933 from a neighboring church. But it had also been an ongoing maintenance challenge. This vigorous but small congregation was understandably weary of spending money at regular intervals and being assured time and again that the organ was now “good as new,” only to find that each assurance had been optimistic, at best. 

When we were asked to take over the organ’s routine tuning and maintenance, we were also charged with making appropriate long-term recommendations. Our first was simply a year of watchful waiting, during which we proposed to carry out touch-up tuning and minor repairs but to do no major work, striving to keep near-term maintenance spending to an absolute minimum. We were thus able to observe the Möller through a full cycle of heating and cooling seasons, especially important given its location partly within an uninsulated organ chamber. This evaluation period also allowed the church a welcome respite from excessive cash outlays and to consider, for the first time, comprehensively restoring its fine but long-suffering pipe organ.

Several things soon became apparent. First, the 1933 relocation from St. Paul’s Lutheran in nearby Richmond—carried out by “two farmers and a mechanic,” according to local tradition—had begun the instrument’s woes. The movers had clearly been competent general craftsmen, but they appear not to have been trained organbuilders. Second, the masonry chamber within which some two-thirds of the organ resided was not well sealed, leaking cold air in winter and hot air in summer, along with the odd bit of blown snow and rain. Third, although the chamber tone opening was more than ample and allowed good tonal egress, the chamber itself was almost too small for the organ it enclosed. The pedal chests had been wedged in at contrary angles, with key action run cross-lots and cobbled together from an assortment of wood tracker stock and soft copper wire. Fourth, the movers had provided absolutely no tuning or maintenance access. To carry out such basic operations as adjusting key action nuts required removal of most of the pedal pipes; to tune the Oboe necessitated either the removal of façade pipes or a precarious climb high above the pedal division.

During this year-long interim, Zion’s organ committee wrestled with a number of options and contending opinions from parishioners, some of whom felt strongly that it was time to “stop pouring money down a black hole, discard the old Möller, and replace it with an ‘up-to-date’ electronic.” While congregational sentiment ran generally against this course, especially among clergy and musicians, many felt rebuilding the Möller or selling it outright would make the most sense. Others in this 190-year-old church advocated a comprehensive restoration, emphasizing the organ’s history, accumulated stewardship, and importance to the fine music program for which Zion’s was known. The church solicited bids for all options, each of which was studied and debated in detail.

Following a vote by the entire church membership, M.P. Rathke, Inc. was awarded the contract for a full and strict mechanical restoration of the Möller. The organ committee chair later explained that we had tendered the winning bid in large part because it was also the low bid, the cost of comprehensively restoring the Möller being significantly less even than a modest electronic to replace it. (The previous sentence is worth re-reading for anyone fortunate enough to possess a historic instrument from any builder.)

During the course of restoration the organ was dismantled in its entirety. Pipework, which upon initial inspection had appeared clean and in relatively good condition, was stored in the church fellowship hall; everything else was taken to our workshop for cleaning, refurbishment, and repair. While in-shop work was proceeding, parishioners were busy tuckpointing, insulating, sealing, caulking, and painting the organ chamber. They also removed carpet from the choir area in front of the organ, sanded and refinished the yellow pine floor below, and invested in a simple humidification unit, built into the existing forced-air HVAC system.

Physical repairs, reinforcement, and reconstruction 

The mechanical restoration was labor-intensive but relatively straightforward. We discovered that sponsil failure had been caused not only by the common condition of overheated, dry winter air, but also by sagging at midpoint of both manual windchests owing to glueline creep. Grid sponsils had thus opened on their undersides like the folds of an accordion in response to 115 years of gravity. After patching and regluing the sponsils, we provided reinforcement to the grid rails of both manual chests to prevent future deflection and to ensure that sponsil repairs would remain permanent. Keyboards were cleaned, flattened, polished, and rebushed; key tails were refelted and releathered. The Swell to Great coupler was comprehensively refurbished. Drawknobs were cleaned and relacquered, stop jambs were rebushed, and a purpose-made rotary blower switch (replacing a massive and unsightly industrial knife switch) was manufactured and applied to the old Bellows Signal stopknob. Kristen Farmer of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was engaged to strip the many layers of flat black paint that had been applied to the nameboard and to carry out a painstaking restoration of the original silver-leaf stenciling (Photo 1). Five components required remanufacturing, either in full or in part:

1. Double-rise reservoir—It is clear that the organ’s original 5′ x 8′ double-rise reservoir survived the 1933 move to Zion’s along with the rest of the instrument. But in the early 1960s the old reservoir was cut into pieces and replaced by a pair of small and inadequate supply house units, likely because of the difficulty of carrying out proper releathering within the extremely tight confines of the chamber. Most of the old reservoir was discarded at that time, but a few pieces were reused as walkboards, bracing, and a jury-rigged post shoring up one corner of the organ’s framework (ironically, replacing a structural post that had been hacked away to gain demolition access to the old reservoir).

Replicating the reservoir turned out to be less difficult than envisioned, for enough fragments remained that we were able to determine all dimensions and relevant construction details. After developing a working design, we entrusted the actual fabrication to
J. Zamberlan & Co. of Wintersville, Ohio (Photo 2). I first met Joe Zamberlan in 1989 during our respective apprenticeships with Fisk and Noack; our similar training and philosophies have since led to collaborations on a number of projects, Zion’s being but the most recent.

2. Pedal key action—When the Möller was built for St. Paul’s Lutheran in 1897, its internal layout was fairly typical: the Swell stood directly behind the Great at impost level, with pedal chests located near floor level, one on the CC side and the other on the ## side (Sketch A, p. 28). At Zion’s, however, this configuration was impossible owing to the absence of space on the ## side. The 1933 movers thus placed all pedal resources on the CC side, where an L-shaped chamber configuration afforded almost enough room.

However, the Zion’s chamber also required the Pedal chests to be located farther toward the back wall (away from the player) than at St. Paul’s. The original action had employed a unique rollerboard, with cranked arms below the pedalboard and rollers running straight back from the keydesk; trackers had then continued at right angles to the Pedal chests. With the chests forced rearward, the 1933 movers chose not the preferable solution of extending the rollerboard and maintaining the original geometry, but rather the Rube Goldberg solution of chiseling away part of the chamber wall and running trackers at a 45-degree angle (Sketch B, p. 28). This somewhat counter-intuitive approach did get the job done, more or less, but it also reduced tracker motion by nearly 50% and imposed undesirable friction and lateral stresses on the Pedal action. We constructed a new rollerboard—essentially a “stretched” replica of the original (Photo 3) utilizing every scrap of old material we could salvage—and installed it in a manner consistent with Möller’s 1897 design (Sketch C, p. 28.)

3. Pedal winding and stop action— The asymmetrical chamber at Zion’s prompted the 1933 movers to choose yet another unusual solution. Because the Bourdon 16′ chest was slightly too long to fit the available space, it was jammed in askew; the slightly shorter Flute 8′ chest fit alongside with no difficulty. Both pedal chests were then served by the same key action run, but winding was less straightforward because each chest employed ventil rather than slider stop action. Thus two wind ducts were required, but only the 16′ Bourdon chest could be winded easily. Undaunted, the movers ran a second galvanized duct straight through the Bourdon chest rollerboard (!), cut a rough hole in the 8′ Flute chest bung board, inserted the duct, puttied it in place, and then located stop action ventils as best they could. Among other drawbacks, this clumsy arrangement made impossible the removal of the Flute chest bung board for maintenance. (Photo 4) The 2013 solution entailed attaching both stop-action ventils to the reservoir (their original location), constructing new poplar wind ducts to match remnants of the originals, and installing in a manner consistent with other Möllers of the period. (Photo 5)

4. Floor frame and building frame replication—During the 1960s, the Möller underwent a rough removal of portions of its floor and building frames to facilitate demolition of its original double-rise reservoir. Instead of reinstalling the load-bearing post, beam, and floor frame, workers simply nailed up scabs of material left over from the old reservoir, which at best provided crude and insufficient support. (Photo 6) We manufactured and installed replicas of the original floor frame and building frame, taking care to match wood species and copy joinery techniques from the rest of the instrument. 

5. Replica reservoir placement and Great wind duct re-routing—During its time at Zion’s, the Möller’s supreme drawback had been a lack of maintenance access. The general culprit was a narrow (8′2′′) chamber opening, compared with the width of the organ’s main internal structure (8′0′′), but specific obstacles included the location and orientation of both the original double-rise reservoir and the Great wind duct.

The 2013 solution was twofold. First, we turned the new reservoir 90 degrees from its original orientation, which allowed us to respect the essential layout of the original wind system while simultaneously opening a clear access path into the organ. (Sketch C) The end-on positioning of the new bellows will also make possible its easy removal for future releathering, as opposed to the crosswise orientation of the original, whose zero-clearance installation in 1933 surely contributed to its eventual demise.

The Great wind duct posed a more perplexing challenge. The original duct was intact in 2012; unfortunately, it completely blocked the only possible service access into the organ. The revised duct now exits the reservoir, crosses under the maintenance walkway, rises vertically, crosses back over the walkway, and finally makes a 90-degree turn forward to enter the Great pallet box. Although the new duct’s construction is somewhat complex, every effort was made to replicate winding characteristics of the original: routing was kept as direct as possible, and cross-sections were deliberately made slightly oversize to compensate both for increased duct length (an additional 19′′) and for necessary additional twists and turns.

Tonal restoration

Successful restorative voicing depends on a number of factors including sufficient intact material, the restorer’s familiarity with other instruments of the school and period, a cautious and deliberate approach, and especially an agenda-free willingness to allow pipes to tell the voicer what they want to do rather than vice versa. In the following paragraphs we will describe the Möller’s altered tonal state in 2012, outline its evaluation, and summarize how we undertook to reconstruct the 1897 sound.

In 1986, Möller Opus 188 still possessed many of the sonorities that inspired worshipers almost a century prior. By 2012, some beautiful sounds remained, although in greatly attenuated form. The exact cause and timing are difficult to pinpoint, in part because church records from the period are sketchy, but also because of the involvement of so many different technicians, some of whom attempted experimental voicing in a manner both curiously random and spectacularly unsuccessful. The physical evidence furnished by the pipes themselves in 2012 seems the most reliable record and will be related here.

All wood pipes were in essentially original condition, requiring little apart from minor regulation and physical repair. The organ’s sole reed stop—a sweet and assertive Oboe and Bassoon 8′—was likewise in decent physical shape apart from some badly torn tuning scrolls. It had undergone tonal work in 1970 by a local technician who, incredibly, chose to sign each C resonator in block capital letters incised with an awl. Fortunately, his voicing efforts were limited to lightly kinking and roughly cross-filing numerous tongues, both of which steps were reversed in 2013. The entire organ had unfortunately been repitched in 2000 to A-440, predictably choking off many reeds; restoring the original pitch of A-435 helped greatly in recovering the Oboe’s stability, promptness, and robustness of tone.

The metal fluework was a mixed bag. On the plus side, almost all interior pipework was physically intact, if not tonally unaltered. Pipes that were slotted in 1897 happily remained so; pipes originally cone-tuned had been fitted with sleeves but fortunately left close to their natural speaking lengths, so the net tonal effect was negligible. Numerous feet had collapsed from years of heavy-handed cone tuning and the use of thin foot material in the first place; we repaired this damage as a matter of course.

On the minus side, many inside pipes had been randomly altered by a variety of bizarre procedures. About a dozen lower lips had been pinched tight against the languids to where only the original coarse nicking allowed wind through the flue; these pipes murmured more than spoke. (This curious method was limited primarily to the Quintadena bass of the 8′ Aeoline.) A distressing number of windways had been aggressively filed open, removing significant material from both languid and lower lip. Upper lips of many mid-range principals had been torn and distorted; some appeared to have been gnawed by rats. Most front pipes, recipients in 2000 of a fresh coat of gold paint, barely spoke in 2012. While the paint job itself was competently executed from a cosmetic standpoint, obvious pre-existing damage had been simply painted over. Examples included out-of-round pipe bodies, dents, missing or broken tuning scrolls, collapsed lead toes, broken ears, and hooks held on by little more than a vestige of solder. Most front pipe windways had also received a generous infusion of paint (!), completely clogging the original nicking and materially reducing flueway cross-sections. Many dangled from their hooks, with wind leaking audibly at collapsed toes; this latter defect became evident only after the friction tape applied in 2000 as a band-aid repair dried out and began to unravel. Zinc conveyancing from the Great windchest was damaged or missing in many instances, causing weak or dead notes; a smooth dynamic transition between façade pipes and their interior continuations (Great Open Diapason, Dulciana, Octave) was nonexistent.

At this point we faced a critical dilemma. On one hand, we had been hired only to restore the Möller mechanically and to perform minor pipe repairs. Wholesale restorative voicing and major pipe repairs were neither contemplated nor included in the contract price. On the other hand, some pipe damage and tonal alterations became clear only after the restored action and wind system allowed pipes to be heard under full wind and precise control. We faced an uncomfortable choice between simply fulfilling the terms of our contract—delivering a perfectly functioning but poor sounding instrument—or moving ahead with necessary tonal work for which we could never be fully compensated. We ultimately chose the latter, not because it was a sound business decision—it was in fact a terrible business decision—but because of the virtual certainty that, if we didn’t, no one ever would. Then this fine and rare pipe organ, mechanically sound but tonally compromised, would likely be discarded eventually. (It is axiomatic that tonally ugly instruments are seldom preserved, no matter how well they function.) In the end, we simply couldn’t bear the thought. And so we prayed, put our noses to the grindstone, and forged ahead.

We tackled the façade first, essentially moving our pipe shop into the Zion’s sanctuary for a full month. Most of the 33 large speaking front pipes required rounding up on large mandrels, as well as removal of visible dents. Components such as ears whose proper reattachment would have involved soldering—impossible without scorching the gold lacquer —were repaired using clear epoxy. The most difficult operation was removing the enormous amount of paint that in 2000 had been sprayed down into the windways, filling in nicking and coating languids and lower lips with an unwelcome layer of crud. Our front pipe work was accompanied at all times by moderate sweat and considerable sotto voce profanity.

Inside pipes were in some ways easier because they were smaller, but there were also many more of them. A few had to be completely remade; a hundred or so more received careful corrective voicing to match their untouched neighbors; a few hundred more required little apart from cleaning, re-prepping, and normal regulation for tone, power, and speech. The final result is as much a testimony to Möller’s original pipemaking and voicing as to our care in resurrecting them.

Have the results repaid our efforts? On the one hand, it is not too much to say that Möller Opus 188 is once again mechanically reliable and tonally impressive, with a richness and versatility that compare favorably with the best of New England work from the period. As restorers, we are exceptionally proud of this magnificent pipe organ we have labored to bring back to life. On the other hand, ours is admittedly the pride of parents, or at least foster parents, and thus similarly subjective. The final assessment must rest with history, which will be informed by countless organists who have yet to experience this remarkable and historic instrument. We therefore encourage all interested readers to visit Zion’s Lutheran Church, to play and listen, and to decide for themselves. Especially we invite you to share with us your reactions and impressions. 

Restorers of the Organ

Joey Jarboe

Caleb Ringwald

Nicholas Ringwald

Paul Rathke

Michael Rathke

Special thanks to Fritz Noack, Christopher Sedlak, and Timothy McEwan.

Knowlton Organ Company of Davidson, NC, has completed the restoration of the 1845 Henry Erben organ at the French Huguenot Church in Charleston, SC. All work was directed toward restoring the organ to the original intent of its builder, utilizing the same materials, hand tools, and work methods used in 1845 whenever possible. This organ is the most historically intact working instrument of its period in Charleston.

Original pressure and voicing restored

Over the years, there had been many attempts to solve the
tonal problems  caused by the
20th-century addition of carpet to the Huguenot Church. Generally speaking,
Erben's organs were voiced in a gentle and refined manner and the
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  carpet, of course, had the effect of
making the organ "too small" for the sanctuary. The
"solution" had been to raise the pressure of the organ and "push" the pipes to play louder. Unfortunately, this altered the character of tone as well, thus many pipes had a "forced" sound, were made unstable, or could not be tuned accurately. At the urging of their organist, David Woolsey, the church decided to return the organ to its original wind pressure, restore the original double-rise bellows (which had been converted to single-rise), and restore the hand pump and feeder bellows, allowing for the restoration of the original voicing and tone of the pipes. (Also, at Mr. Woolsey's behest, the carpet was removed from the church and the original heart pine floors were completely refinished, restoring the orgininal acoustic environment of the building.) To reconstruct the second rise, the massive 9' x 5'  bellows was disassembled completely and the original ribs were used as patterns for the new ones, which were made from perfect antique poplar. Erben made this double-rise bellows with two inward folds, rather than  the more common inverted fold on the top, as evidenced by the early traces of glue and leather. The original pump handle and dual feeder bellows were intact, though in need of new leather and a few replacement wooden parts which were made from 150-year-old maple and walnut from builder's stock. The organ may now either be hand-pumped or run from the blower by opening a butterfly valve. A period-stye wind indicator was also made and installed.

Fortunately, the original voicing of the pipes is
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  completely intact, as there had never
been an attempt to cut the mouths, alter the nicking of the languids, or
significantly alter the settings placed by Mr. Erben. Though some metal flue
pipes in the 4' range had been replaced (due certainly to excessive tuning
damage) these replacement pipes were made and voiced quite properly.
Determining the original pitch of the pipes was integral to the process of
finding the original wind pressure, and a key indicator in this process is the
position of the tuning ears on the two sets of chimney flutes with soldered-on
tops. It is known that hand-pumped organs rarely  exceeded 3" of pressure, so we began there as our
benchmark. With the chimney flutes in the voicing room at 72 degrees F, we
gradually lowered the pressure with the ears in a "neutral"
perpendicular position. When the speech, timbre, and tuning of the flutes and
Great Principal C pipes reclaimed the refined qualities one would expect to
hear from Erben pipes of the period, it became evident that A=430hz on
2-7/8" of wind pressure was likely the original setting! The replacement
of the unsatisfactory 1969 Great Trumpet pipes required an accurate historical
reproduction of Erben's work and these pipes, made by Eastern Organ Pipes of
Hagerstown MD using the same metal composition, scaling, and shallot shapes
taken from historical samples of Erben's reeds, yielded superb results. The
firm also reconditioned the original Erben 8' Oboe pipes, and both projects
have exceeded our highest expectations.

Pedal compass expanded

Originally, 20 pedals pulled down from the Great manual, and
there was no 16' pedal stop. John Baker, a former Erben employee, added a 15-note Bourdon 16' to the rear of the case sometime between 1859 and 1876, while a
resident of Charleston. In 1969, a 27-note pedalboard was installed with an
aluminum coupler rollerboard, but the pedal compass was never actually
completed to 27 notes. However, the Erben pedal coupler rollerboard, originally
made to actuate the pull-downs, was still stored with the organ, and by
installing exact reproductions of the Erben rollers, the original rollerboard
was expanded to 27 notes, supplanting the 1969 aluminum substitute. The pedals
and Great manual were then connected to the rollerboard with new 1/4"
walnut pulls made to period style with wrapped wire ends and adjustable nuts,
and 27 new birch pedal jacks were installed to pull the horizontal trackers.
With Baker's 16' Bourdon pipes #1-15 along the back of the organ case,
"new" 100-year-old 16' Bourdon pipes for pedals #16-27 were installed
inside the upper case, mounted on a new pallet windchest constructed of
hand-planed antique pine. A complete new pedal tracker action was constructed
to incorporate the old and new pipes, and also to provide a pedal action that
would emulate the high quality of Erben's work. A horizontal 27-note
rollerboard was laid out on a new floor frame, and pine reproductions of the Baker pedal rollers with tapered walnut roller arms were installed. The new basswood pedal trackers were then linked to the original Baker square rail to play Bourdon pipes #1-15. The pedal rollers extend to the C-side case, with roller arms to pull down the pallets for Bourdon pipes #1627, elevated inside the case. The entire pedal action lies flat on the floor underneath the bellows and hand-pump feeders providing a fitting and elegant solution. Over the years,
many trackers in the manual action had been repaired or replaced with various
materials, leaving inconsistent results. The trackers for the Swell and the
Great key actions were completely replaced, using new basswood trackers with
wooden tops and wire ends with adjustable links. All of the organ's windchests
were disassembled, cleaned, and the grids recovered in fine leather. The
mahogany chest tables were found in perfect condition, minor repairs to cracks
in the sliders, toeboards, and sponsals were made, and new wire pulldowns with
weighted seals were installed to complete the restoration of the windchests.

Shellac finish restored

The shellac finish on the beautiful and ornate mahogany case
of this organ was found in varying conditions--the sides were bleached by
direct UV radiation from the windows, the upper front casework and carvings
were coal-black from benign neglect, and the lower front case had been wiped
with a variety of furniture polishes over the years. Preservation of the
original shellac finish was imperative, but a non-invasive restoration of the
uniformity and original luster of the finish was very important. All of the
casework was damp-wiped with an oil soap solution known to be shellac-friendly,
and hand-dried. Although the sun-bleached sides had lost the dark patina of the
front case, staining such a large area simply would violate the historical
integrity of the finish. However, shellac is a natural substance, refined from
the secretions of a tiny Asian insect, the Laccifer Lacca, and in its raw form,
is the same material used by organ builders and furniture craftsmen for
hundreds of years. Using the rawest, darkest, unrefined dry shellac flakes
available, processed by hand into liquid form with alcohol, new dark shellac
was painstakingly hand-applied, melting into the original shellac until the
patina matched the rest of the case. The entire finish was then hand-waxed and
buffed using an antique furniture polish composed of natural oils and beeswax.

Organ dedication

The organ is to be dedicated in Spring of 1998, and the
recitalist is yet to be announced.

GREAT (58 notes, GG-F3)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Open
Diapason (58 notes)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Stop'd
Diapason Treble (37)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Stop'd
Diapason Bass (21)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal

                  22/3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Twelfth (from C)
(54)

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Fifteenth
(from C) (54)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trumpet
(TC) (42)

SWELL & CHOIR BASS (58 notes)

        Swell treble stops from
Tenor F

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Stop'd
Diapason (37)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Dulciana
(37)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal
(37)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flute
(37)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Hautboy
(37)

       Choir bass stops

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Stop'd
Diapason (21)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal
(21)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bassoon
(21)

PEDAL

Twenty* notes pulling down from the Great (*there is some
evidence that there were only 19 notes originally). The Bourdon 16' was added
later.

Allison A. Alcorn received her PhD from the University of North Texas, Denton, in 1997 and is now professor of musicology at Illinois State University, where she is active in the Honors Program, Study Abroad, and Faculty Development and mentoring. Alcorn served as editor of the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society from 2012–2017 and joined the AMIS Board of Governors in 2017. She has previously been councilor for research for the Organ Historical Society and on the governing board of the American Organ Archives. Publications include articles for the Grove Dictionary of American Music and the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments as well as articles in a variety of national and international journals.

Editor’s note: Part 1 of this article was published in the February issue of The Diapason, pages 22–24.

Hinners & Albertsen in Red Wing, Minnesota

The Red Wing organ’s specification list represents the standard style 2/10, available in style A, B, or C; that is, in the mail order, the congregation indicated whether it should be built to go on the left, center, or right of the altar. This was a substantial investment for the church at just less than $1,000.00. Clearly, this organ (Figure 10) is nothing elaborate or extravagant. It is a meat and potatoes organ. No dessert here, no fancy garnishes, only what is absolutely needed:

GREAT

8′ Open Diapason (metal, 61 pipes)

8′ Melodia (wood, 61 pipes)

8′ Dulciana (metal, 49 pipes)

4′ Principal (metal, 61 pipes)

SWELL

16′ Bourdon (wood, 49 pipes)

8′ Violin Diapason (metal, 61 pipes)

8′ Lieblich Gedackt (wood, 61 pipes)

8′ Salicional (metal, 49 pipes)

4′ Flauto Traverso (metal, 61 pipes)

PEDAL

16′ Bourdon (wood, 27 pipes)

Couplers

Swell & Octave to Great Coupler

Swell to Great Coupler

Swell to Pedal Coupler

Great to Pedal Coupler

Accessories

Swell Tremulant

Blowers Signal

Wind Indicator

Pedal movements

Great Forte

Great Piano

Balanced Swell Pedal

Red Wing was originally the site of a Lakota farming village, and then in 1837 missionaries with the Evangelical Missionary Society of Lausanne began a decade of relatively sporadic missionary activity until several treaties were signed with the Sioux and Mendota in the 1850s and a U. S. Land Office opened in Red Wing in 1855. Within a few years, the town of Red Wing—named after the Lakota chief who used a dyed swan wing as a symbol of rank—became a busy river port. A more stable white settlement was established with the opening of a leather and shoe factory—the beginning of the famous Red Wing Shoe empire—and a pottery factory—the Red Wing Pottery empire—in the 1860s. However, it was the wheat trade that spurred rapid growth throughout the 1870s and then ironically also led to a serious economic downturn because of depleted soil and increased problems with blight and rust exacerbated by a series of severe storms.

Industrial diversification probably saved the town of around 4,000 inhabitants; flour mills opened along with lime quarrying and furniture building, lumber, and millwork. Red Wing Iron Works, founded in 1866, was perhaps the chief contributor that enabled the city to diversify and save itself. The iron works was owned and run by Benjamin and Daniel Densmore, Benjamin being the father of Frances Densmore, a true pioneer in American musicology and ethnomusicology.

Frances’s letters provide a good sense of what Red Wing was like in the era in which the Hinners & Albertsen organ came to the city. Frances wrote about having grown up going to bed at night listening to the drums and chanting of the Lakota on Trenton Island, directly across the Mississippi River from her house. She could see their fires from her bedroom window. In 1889 the Lakota were forced onto the Prairie Island Reservation, but they remained both a physical and aural presence in Red Wing.⁵

The Norwegian Lutheran Hauge Synod established a significant stronghold in Red Wing beginning in the 1870s and opened a seminary there in 1879, high on the bluff overlooking the city. The ladies seminary was opened in 1889 and was known especially for its Conservatory of Music and its director, Dr. Bernard F. Laukandt, who was also organist at St. Peter Norwegian Lutheran Church; therefore, the organist for the 1898 Hinners & Albertsen.⁶ The conservatory was divided into three departments: piano, voice, and pipe organ (the auditorium had a Kilgen organ) and ran a concert series that brought performers from the East coast. People would take the train from Minneapolis for the concerts, so despite the hardships of life in turn-of-the-century Red Wing, people also found a measure of cultured entertainment. The residents of Red Wing clearly appreciated music, so the climate was amenable to raising money for a good pipe organ. On the other hand, the reality was that Red Wing was rural and largely blue collar, and so while they sincerely appreciated the organ, a Möller or a Casavant was out of the question.

Red Wing’s organ was order number 360, placed August 6, 1898, by Carl N. Lien, secretary of St. Peter Norwegian Lutheran Church (Figure 11). It was to be shipped October 10 and dedicated October 23, 1898. As of December 7, however, it was still being hoped for, but for an unknown reason, it was not shipped until January 25, 1899.⁷ It weighed 5,690 pounds and was shipped on the Santa Fe Railroad at a cost of $34.14. The price of $1,050.00 was payable thirty days after delivery. The organ finally arrived about February 1, 1899, and was installed later that week, ready for the dedication concert the following weekend.

Tickets were sold for 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children, a good indication that the organ had been purchased with a payment plan, which was typical for the company, and selling tickets for the dedication concert is a feature that appears in the histories for many of the Hinners organs. The concert featured Professor Rydning from St. Paul, a virtuoso organist and graduate of the Conservatory of Christiana, Norway. Professor Chally (from the seminary) and other participants in the concert were from Red Wing. The newspaper reported that the turnout was excellent, given how cold it was on that February night.⁸ Professor Rydning was active in the region from the 1890s through the early part of the twentieth century, appearing in newspaper concert program announcements with great frequency.

Characteristics of the organs

The stoplists, pipe scales, mouth shapes and cut-ups, and high wind pressures indicate that the Hinners company espoused a romantic tonal ideal. Further, small swell boxes jammed to the edges with pipes, and the packed interior mechanical set-up demonstrate that Hinners was committed to offering as much organ as possible for the limited amount of space available in small churches. The identical nature of measurements from one organ to the next strongly suggests mass-production techniques and certain stock models that could be altered for particular requirements. A number of features stand out as typical of the Hinners organs as represented by this 1898 instrument. First, draw knobs rather than tabs were standard until sometime in the 1920s. Second, early organs have a system of two pre-set mechanisms that were mechanical and could not be reset. One of the pre-sets combined all the loud ranks, while the other combined all the soft ranks. Economically minded construction is seen in details such as lower octave pipes built of wood rather than metal and lower octave pipes of one rank shared with at least one other rank. Some of the organs have a Quintotone in which the stopper doubles the pipe length, making it sound an octave lower without the cost of additional metal. Especially noteworthy because of its uniqueness among contemporary organ builders, Hinners & Albertsen normally avoided traditional reed ranks and instead included a labial reed stop in the Swell. Labial reeds hold pitch through temperature variations in addition to being less susceptible to dirt than a traditional reed pipe. Perhaps most important is that the labial reed, because it does not have an actual reed, was supremely practical for rural congregations without regular access to an organ technician.⁹

Pedalboards used native woods, the sharps stained somewhat darker than the naturals. The pedalboards were flat and short-compassed until the late 1920s, when the company made an effort to conform with the standards set forth by the American Guild of Organists and began building full concave, radiating pedalboards. The façade pipes were painted and stenciled until shortly after 1910, with muted color schemes designed to blend with the natural colors of the console wood. Many of the original pipe stencils (Figure 12) do not offer shining examples of stellar stenciling work. For the most part, the Hinners factory workers were German immigrants with backgrounds in furniture building, not painting, and the stenciling is frequently sloppy in places. Generally, the factory employees took great pride in their work and believed their instruments were giving voice to their own thoughts and feelings, sometimes rather metaphysically. For example, when the Rutz Organ Company rebuilt a 1918 Hinners for Holy Nativity Evangelical Lutheran Church in New Hope, Minnesota, they found a penciled inscription inside the Great chest on the valve spring board: “Peace Proposal of Austria to USA rejected. To Hell with the war Lords. Dade Johnson and F. C. Muehlenbrink 9/18/18.”¹⁰

Nicking of pipe mouths is heavy in all Hinners organs. Metal pipes are nicked on the languid and wooden pipes are nicked in the windway. Hinners used three tuning methods: stoppers, scrolls, and key-hole tuners. Any sleeves found on these instruments were added after the scroll broke. 

The manual keyboards are constructed with ivory slips on the naturals and ebony sharps. Pedal ranks and façade pipes often use a tubular pneumatic winding action while the key action is mechanical throughout.¹¹ Even as regards winding, though, unreliable electricity in rural areas kept Hinners using pump handles for quite awhile after most builders had switched to electric blower systems. Despite eventually having electric blowers, most organs still retained the capability for manual pumping precisely because of that unreliable electricity. Typical Hinners console design is quarter-sawn oak with a dark stain, decorated with raised panels and carved finials and moldings characteristic of early twentieth-century furniture styles. Grillework is sometimes integrated with façade pipes.

Continuing History of the Red Wing Hinners & Albertsen

The 1928 photograph in Figure 13 is the only extant image of the 1898 Red Wing Hinners & Albertsen while it belonged to St. Peter’s. Professor Laukandt is seated at the organ. In 1930—two years after this photo—the two Norwegian Lutheran churches in Red Wing merged, taking Trinity Lutheran’s name and building. The St. Peter building was sold to the Christian Science Church in 1933. At some point the Christian Scientists decided to update the sanctuary. This has virtually never been good news for organs—and the 1898 Hinners & Albertsen was moved to the center of the front platform with small side rooms built to its left and right. The console was whitewashed (Figure 14) and the façade pipes were painted gold (Figure 15), but the working parts remained untouched. It was rather untidy, but it was all there, and the paint-just-the-visible-front job on the pipes allowed for later restoration to the original color scheme. That the church members were able to uninstall and reinstall even a ten-rank pipe organ seems to be a testament to the basic mechanical sense used by Hinners and to the general battleship quality of these little organs. This is one of the precise things that made Hinners so successful in the small rural church market—anyone with fundamental mechanical sense could care for the organ; it was sturdy enough to stand up to the rigors of rural life. The 1926 Hinners at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Dimock, South Dakota, went through the Dust Bowl, had not been cleaned in about 60 years, and still sounded beautiful through two inches of solidified dust.

In the mid-1980s, the former St. Peter Church building was purchased by the Apostolic Face Lighthouse Church, and in August 1995 by the Four Square Church. By 1996 the pastor confirmed to me they were about to “throw [the organ] away.” I contacted Tom Erickson, a Casavant representative who lived in Red Wing. Erickson took up the cause. For the next year, Erickson was tireless in attending Kiwanis meetings, Rotary meetings, Lions, city council, and chamber of commerce—any group that would listen to the organ’s story and might agree to help. He first made headway when he raised enough money to purchase the instrument, for by now, the church had become quite convinced of its treasure, and while they would certainly not harm the instrument, they could be convinced to sell it. Next, Erickson persuaded the owners of the historic St. James Hotel to let him store the organ in the hotel’s recently acquired Red Wing Iron Works building that was, at that point, sitting empty while they decided what to do with it. Erickson kept raising money, and the keydesk was sent to Luhm’s Refinishing, a Minneapolis firm that specializes in historic furniture and pianos. A local artist, Delores Fritz, re-stenciled the pipes. In the meantime, the owner of the St. James Hotel agreed to give the organ a home in its lobby and accept the responsibility for its care. It now has become part of the identity of the hotel—“you know, the historic hotel in Minnesota with a pipe organ in the lobby”—so much so that the organ even appears on the hotel’s Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Hotel_(Red_Wing,_Minnesota)), in its TripAdvisor photos and reviews, and ubiquitously on Instagram with the stjameshotel location tag.

The St. James built a small balcony and fashioned a window into a door in order to access the organ for servicing (Figure 16). A ladder is required to climb into the balcony off the exterior stairs, and then the door opens straight into the organ. To get into the swell box, the side façade pipes have to be removed, but that is not unusual for a Hinners. The very compactness and space efficiency that made Hinners organs so attractive to small congregations without much square footage in the sanctuary conversely also made the organs into real maintenance challenges as far as simply accessing its various components. They are intuitive constructions to the mechanically minded, to be sure, but one must first somehow reach the part in need of attention.

As with any organ’s story, this instrument has had to accept compromises along the way in order to continue serving the needs of its changing audiences. Most significantly, the corner façade pipes had to be lowered by about a foot to fit it in the space, and the rear six side façade pipes had to be left off entirely. The Hinners & Albertsen organ is used regularly. Hotel guests may request the blower key between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.; as one might guess, the historic St. James Hotel does a brisk wedding business, and the organ is a frequent participant. The hotel staff works hard to keep it safe, and current management seems cognizant of its historic value. The St. Peter Norwegian Lutheran Church building has taken on a new life in recent years as well, now serving as The Red Wing Church House (https://www.redwingchurchhouse.com), a luxury vacation rental that rents for about $2,500 a week (Figure 17).

Nuts and Bolts

The Hinners & Albertsen organ company was, even in its time, sometimes dismissed as being the producer of inferior instruments, as was the Hinners Organ Company for decades after it. Gradually, and sometimes with a bit of sentimental nostalgia for the instruments on which so many organists cut their teeth, the organ world began to realize that the organs are not inferior at all, but that they represent a “nuts and bolts” type of organ. Hinners & Albertsen organs offered churches a perfectly serviceable and respectable musical alternative to the reed organ that would fulfill the needs and meet the budget of a small congregation without the nice but unnecessary expense of a large number of ranks on an organ that was individually designed for each particular church.

Other companies built stock organs, to be sure, and other companies used a catalog approach to sales. Lyon & Healy, Kimball, Felgemaker, Estey, and Wangerin-Weickhardt all had a similar product line and methodology—particularly Felgemaker with the Patent Portable Organ. On the other hand, certainly for Hinners & Albertsen, operations were focused nearly exclusively in the realm of the small stock organ. The vast majority of all Hinners instruments were organs of about ten ranks—the largest Hinners organ ever built had only twenty-eight ranks. Moreover, Hinners built these small pipe organs for nearly 50 years, long after the other companies had followed the trend to larger organs with strictly electric actions. Hinners & Albertsen organs, and ultimately the Hinners Organ Company, supplied a unique need in American society that arose from circumstances peculiar to the American situation. The frontier was closed and settlements were progressing beyond concern for mere survival to concerns for improving their quality of life. Raised in small mission churches around the rural Midwest, John L. Hinners felt the people’s desire for a pipe organ and understood their frustration with the expense and complexity of the instrument that made it impractical for small country churches. In a creative combination of business methods and comprehension of musical and construction issues, the Hinners & Albertsen Organ Company brought pipe organs to rural America and, in the case of the Red Wing, Minnesota, organ, filled the bluffs of the Mississippi River with music.

Notes

5. Frances played organ, and for many years she was a church organist at the Red Wing Episcopal church. It seems a safe assumption that Frances would at least have known this Hinners & Albertsen organ, likely heard it, and possibly even played it.

6. The school’s students included girls who wanted to marry ministers, but also “status offenders,” that is, girls who had committed no crime but had become impossible to control.

7. This is an excessively delayed schedule, even for a business at the time. Hinners typically turned around its orders well within three months, with some organs shipping within a matter of a few weeks.

8. Sadly, weather data for Red Wing is recorded only as far back as 1902.

9. Allison Alcorn, “A History of the Hinners Organ Company of Pekin, Illinois,” The Tracker, vol. 44, no. 3 (2000), 17.

10. This organ was built for Church of the Sacred Heart, Spring Valley, Illinois, and was moved to Minnesota in 1990.

11. One of Hinners’s distinctive characteristics is how late the company relied on tracker actions. Even in its few theater contracts, Hinners remained loyal to tracker action and was probably the last builder to give up theater trackers, with two installed as late as 1916.

Introduction

The Keweenaw Peninsula, the northernmost part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States. The land was mined by prehistoric miners, starting in 3,000 B.C., and has produced over 1.5 billion pounds of pure copper. Its major industries are now logging and tourism. The northern end, referred to locally as Copper Island, is separated from the rest of the peninsula by the Keweenaw Waterway, a natural river that was dredged and expanded in the 1860s across the peninsula between the cities of Houghton on the south side and Hancock on the north.
The Keweenaw’s importance in mining led to the founding of the Michigan College of Mines (now Michigan Technological University) in Houghton in 1885. From 1964–1971, the University of Michigan cooperated with NASA and the U.S. Navy to run the Keweenaw Rocket launch site.
In the Keweenaw, many artifacts, buildings, and locations have been documented and preserved for local historical museums and the Keweenaw National Historic Park. What have not been documented are the historic pipe organs in the area. It is the intent of this article to do that. Included are a brief description and history of each church structure and a description, stoplist, and photos for each pipe organ featured. Information was gleaned from books about the area, brochures and bulletins from the individual churches, clippings from Upper Peninsula newspapers, and people—the local organists and pastors and local historic preservationist, Ed Yarbrough. A bibliography is included at the end of the catalog.
In 1995 the Pine Mountain Music Festival (PMMF) for the first time included a pipe organ recital and work-shop in their concert schedule. Two major events happened at that time. First, the Keweenaw group formed the Organists of the Keweenaw, and since then we have met three or four times a year sharing in presenting programs for each other. The second event was an organ crawl to visit the historic organs that David Short had “rediscovered” thirty years earlier. Shortly after, I began collecting material for a catalog of the Keweenaw organs.
David Short has been a partner with me in the collection of this material. In his early enthusiasm he became acquainted with all the instruments listed and registered some of them with the Organ Historical Society. I am indebted to him for providing access to the buildings and the instruments and providing much of the history. I collected the stoplists, wrote the histories from the collected sources, did all the photography, and formatted the information. He read the draft and corrected technical errors. It is to him that I dedicate this catalog. Errors are strictly my own.
These magnificent music machines are a valuable historic resource in the Keweenaw. They reflect the boom days of the copper mining era when people of wealth who lived in the area sought the best music for their churches and arranged for the purchase of these instruments. To replace any one of these pipe organs at this time would cost a minimum of $200,000 and many times more for the larger instruments. Their great value requires regular maintenance and care similar to any other major investment such as automobile or home. Well-maintained pipe organs live for centuries. A loss of any one of the Keweenaw pipe organs is a loss of history, loss of a valuable asset, and, because they are wind instruments similar to the human voice, a loss of the very best way to lead the people of a congregation in their song.
We hope this catalog will trigger interest in the organs of the Keweenaw from the local folk as well as travelers to this unique place. To see the organs, visitors may contact the church offices to make arrangements for a convenient visit.

History

People have always had their songs. Prior to the boom of the music publishing industry in the early 1900s, people matched their voices with whatever instruments they had—homemade or store-bought. Angus Murdoch writes in Boom Copper of the “Grand Callithumpian” parade in Calumet (Boom Copper, 1943, 199), where bands from all over the Copper Country gathered for the Fourth of July celebration. The bands were from mining companies, lodges and guilds, various “locations,” and represented various ethnic groups. Larry Lankton quotes Bishop Baraga being surprised at “the fast spreading of civilization on the shores of Lake Superior . . . [where] there was even a piano on which a young American woman played very skillfully . . . Many settlers undoubtedly brought musical instruments with them. Others special-ordered instruments at frontier stores. By as early as 1849–50, John Senter’s store in Eagle River did a modest trade in musical instruments, selling an accordion, a melodion, bass violas and bows, a violin and bow, guitars and guitar strings. Flageolets, and a German flute, a tuning fork, and a violin and cello instruction book” (Beyond the Boundaries 1997, 168–169). The ethnic folk brought with them their song. They sang drinking songs, folk songs, or parlor songs such as published in The Gray Book of Favorite Songs, and they sang their hymns. Much of what defined ethnic identity and culture through the decades was the song of the church in their hymnals. Indeed, the religious belief of people is, in large part, learned and remembered from the words and tunes of their hymns. It was only in the last decades of the 20th century that some foreign-language hymnals ceased to be used and the hymns begun to be sung in English. During all that time the leader of that song was, and still is, the organ.
Reed pump organs were common in both church and home. Thurner, in writing about the early 20th century, quotes Clare Moyer who recalled a pump organ in her home (Strangers and Sojourners, 1994, 187). Most likely, church congregations that could not afford pipe organs bought reed pump organs instead. Some of these instruments, now over 100 years old, still survive. At least two are currently used during summer services in local chapels. Others, also in working order, can be seen in local museums.
Acquisition of pipe organs probably reflected the wealth of the congregation. Some instruments from the late 19th century cost little over $2000. The Boom Copper folks wanted for their local churches what they had had “out East”—the pipe organ. This was not uncommon for people in remote areas. During the “Gold Rush” in Canada’s Dawson City in the Yukon, a frame Presbyterian Church, built to hold 650 people, had a pipe organ, which had been shipped to the church by steamboat up the Yukon River. The Congregational Church in Calumet bought a Garret House organ in 1870 from the manufacturer in Buffalo, New York. It was shipped—keydesk, 16' metal and wood pipes and all—to Lake Linden and then transported up the hill to Calumet. Some time later, the congregation decided to get a larger organ and bought a Hook & Hastings instrument, again from “out East.” The Garret House was given to the Lake Linden Church and made the journey back down the hill. Sad to say, the Calumet church met with disaster when both the building and the organ were destroyed by fire. The congregation joined with the Presbyterian congregation that had in their building a 1905 Estey organ.
Both the Estey, which was rebuilt in 1970, and the Garret House, which has been cleaned and reconditioned, are still in use. There is a great irreplaceable investment in the Keweenaw pipe organs! Thurner writes that the German Lutherans in Laurium built a church “early in the twentieth century [which had] an altar with elaborate wood carving, three steeple bells, and an organ . . . ” (Strangers and Sojourners, 134). Armas Holmio describes the Finnish Lutheran Church that was built in 1889 on Reservation Street in Hancock: “In the balcony of the new church, which was the most imposing one owned by Finnish Americans of that time, there was a large pipe organ . . . ” (History of the Finns in Michigan, 2001, 188). That organ, a Kilgen dating from 1915, was moved to the newly constructed Gloria Dei building after the Lutheran Church mergers in 1964.
The Houghton Methodists suffered several fires, the last one in 1916 destroying a pipe organ, according to Terry Reynolds’ history of the church (Grace of Houghton, 37). Until their new building was erected, the Methodists worshiped for a time with the First Presbyterians on Franklin Square, and then separately in the Masonic Temple. When the Methodists decided to purchase an organ for their new church, the Presbyterians apparently took advantage of the opportunity. Both churches dealt with the same company during the same period of time and ended up with similar instruments, the Methodists’ Maxcy-Barton organ being somewhat larger. When the Presbyterian church was razed to allow for highway expansion down Montezuma Hill, their Maxcy-Barton was purchased by a local party and installed in the family home.
Sadly, the same did not happen for the large Austin organ in the First Congregational Church of Hancock, which was razed about the same time. The music history of that church, which included among others the notable baritone Will Hall, was impressive. The organ had played a huge musical role in the church and community, but unfortunately could find no local home, and was sold to a party outside of the area.
Another organ has lain in state for over 30 years. When one local church closed, no home could be found for the pipe organ. Pastor John Simonson dismantled the instrument and made plans to install it in an enlarged garage on his property. The project was not completed, and the organ now awaits resurrection, hopefully to be placed in the St. Anne Heritage Center in Calumet, where it could be used for concerts, weddings, and other events and to echo the music of the ethnic people of the area.
The Keweenaw boasts pipe organs dating from 1870 to 1968. All are in working order and in regular use, and several are tracker organs. All of the Keweenaw tracker organs now have electric blowers; however, two of the trackers can still be hand pumped. One has a detached and reversed keydesk. Several of the Keweenaw organs are in their original state with no changes having been made. They were installed with electric blowers and with either electro-pneumatic or electro-magnetic action. Three have been moved to different locations. Although the consoles have been moved in at least two churches, the innards of the instruments remain the same. One organ has been enlarged to meet the specifications for the original instrument. Others have been so enlarged with additional pipes and digital circuitry that they no longer resemble the original instrument. Only two organs have three manuals. One has an echo organ placed at the opposite end of the sanctuary from the main organ chamber. Another is a beautiful one-manual, no-pedalboard organ with fully exposed pipes. The Keweenaw pipe organs are irreplaceable treasures, a legacy from those folks of the Boom Copper days who sought to bring the best of instruments to their churches for their peoples’ song. These are instruments worthy of preservation, care, and constant use. Let them be heard!

Pipe Organs of the Keweenaw, Houghton County, Michigan

Calumet, Laurium
Community Church, Calumet. Estey, 1907; Verlinden 2M, 1970
St. Paul the Apostle, Calumet. Kilgen 2M, 1869; Lauck, 2001
St. Paul Lutheran (Missouri Synod), Laurium. Schuelke 2M, 1902; Verlinden, 1963

Hancock, Houghton
First United Methodist, Hancock. Kimball 2M, 1905; electro-pneumatic 1958; refurbished, Lauck, 2005
Gloria Dei Lutheran, Hancock. Kilgen 2M, 1915?; moved to new location 1969; rebuilt and enlarged, Fabry, 2000
Grace United Methodist, Houghton. Maxcy-Barton, 1931; rebuilt, Verlinden, 1971
Michigan Technological University. Wurlitzer, 3M, c1920; installed at MTU, John Wagner, Wicks, 1970–1975
David and Carol Waisanen residence. Maxcy-Barton 2M, c1931–1933; moved from original location, 1975
Sts. Peter & Paul Lutheran (Missouri Synod), Hancock. Haase 2M, 1901; modified and electrified, Haase, 1960; rebuilt, Roscoe Wheeler, 1997
Trinity Episcopal, Houghton. Austin 3M, 1913, 1976, 1987

Lake Linden, Hubbell
Heritage Center (former First Congregational Church), Houghton County Historical Museum, Lake Linden. Garret House 2M, 1870; cleaned, Dana Hull, 2001; restored, Helmut Schick, 2002
St. Cecilia RC, Hubbell. Felgemaker 2M, c1900
St. John’s Lutheran (Missouri Synod), Hubbell. Verlinden 1M, 1968
St. Joseph’s RC, Lake Linden. Casavant Frères 2M, 1916; overhauled 1957; electro-pneumatic, Verlinden, 1982; cleaned, new console, J. A. Hebert, 1995; additions, Lauck, 2001
Lake Linden United Methodist, Lake Linden. Lancashire-Marshall 2M, 1893; Hugh Stahl, 1950

Keweenaw area
Rockland Roman Catholic. Garret House, 1859 (not functional)

Calumet and Laurium

Community Church of Calumet
201 Red Jacket Road, Calumet, MI 49913; 906/337-4610.
Estey tracker 1907; rebuilt, Verlinden “incorporating most of the stops from the original organ,” electro-pneumatic, 1970. 2M/28 stops, 16 ranks
Placement: center front of sanctuary in well of choir loft, facing organ chamber

GREAT (enclosed)
8' Open Diapason 61 pipes
8' Melodia 61 pipes
8' Dulciana 61 pipes
4' Octave 61 pipes
4' Waldflote 12 pipes
2' Fifteenth 12 pipes
II Grave Mixture 122 pipes
8' Trumpet 61 notes
16' Great to Great
4' Great to Great
8' Swell to Great
4' Swell to Great
Four combination pistons

SWELL (enclosed)
16' Bourdon 73 notes
8' Stopped Diapason 73 pipes
8' Salicional 73 pipes
8' Voix Celeste TC 49 pipes
4' Principal 73 pipes
4' Flute d’Amour 12 pipes
4' Salicet 61 notes
22⁄3' Nazard 61 notes
2' Principal 61 notes
2' Flautino 61 notes
13⁄5' Tierce 57 notes
8' Trumpet 73 pipes
4' Clarion 61 notes
Tremolo
16' Swell to Swell
4' Swell to Swell
Swell Unison Off
Four combination pistons

PEDAL (enclosed)
16' Bourdon 32 pipes
16' Lieblich Gedeckt 12 pipes
8' Octave 12 pipes
8' Bass Flute 32 notes
8' Gedeckt 32 notes
4' Choral Bass 32 notes
8' Trumpet 32 notes
8' Great to Pedal
8' Swell to Pedal
4' Great to Pedal

Deagan Chimes - 21 bells
Expression pedal for entire organ
Crescendo pedal
Sforzando toe piston
Great to pedal reversible toe piston

The Calumet Congregational Church was the church of James MacNaughton and Alexander Agassiz and represented the elite and wealthy of the community. The original church, built in 1874, burned down in 1949. In 1971 the congregation merged with the Calumet Presbyterian Church, which had been built in 1894 to serve the Scottish Presbyterians in the area. The merged churches, first named the Federated Church, then became the Community Church of Calumet (Congregational-Presbyterian). In 2005 the congregation separated from the Presbyterian Church (USA) in order to lease the basement facilities to the Copper Country Community Arts Council. It retains affiliation with the United Church of Christ.
The organ was originally built from two Estey trackers from Brattleboro, Vermont. Estey was in business from 1846–1960 and manufactured more than 3,200 pipe organs during the first half of the 20th century. On November 5, 1969, the Calumet organ was removed by Verlinden Organ Company, Milwaukee. Roman J. Leese, president of Verlinden, designed a new chamber, and the organ was reinstalled with most of the original pipes on July 13, 1970. It was converted to electro-pneumatic, and the console was moved from next to the chamber to a well at the opposite side of the choir loft. It is totally under expression. The first service with the new installation was played July 17, 1970, with James Abrams at the console. Dedicatory recitalist on November 5, 1970, was Harvey L. Gustafson. (Source: church records by Charles Stetter)

St. Paul the Apostle Church
301 Eighth Street, Calumet, MI 49913; 906/337-2044.
Kilgen, 1905, reverse tracker, 2M, 17 stops; oak, 18' wide, 9' deep; original cost $4,000. Rebuilt, cleaned, new trackers, manuals regulated, 1 stop* added, Lauck, 2001. Pneumatic pedal, hand pump preserved.
Placement: rear balcony, facing front of sanctuary

GREAT
8' Open Diapason
8' Trompette*
8' Melodia
4' Octave
4' Flute d’Amour
2' Fifteenth
16' Bourdon

SWELL (enclosed)
8' Violin Diapason
8' Salicional
8' Aeoline
8' Oboe Gamba (2 ranks, non-reed)
8' Stopped Diapason
4' Violina
4' Flute Harmonique
2' Flautina
Swell to Great
Tremolo

PEDAL
16' Bourdon
8' Violon Cello
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

Pneumatic assist
Five foot pedals: soft to loud

The parish was established in 1889 by Slovenian immigrants and was originally named St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church. The original 1890 wood frame building was destroyed by fire in 1902. The new twin-spired church was built of Jacobsville sandstone from 1903 to 1908 at the cost $100,000. In 1928 St. Joseph’s Parish absorbed St. Anthony’s Polish Parish. After 1966 they absorbed St. Mary’s (Italian), St. Anne’s (French), St. John’s (Croatian), and took the name St. Paul the Apostle Parish. The structure was designated an Historical Building in the State of Michigan in 1983.
The 1905 Kilgen organ is a reverse tracker. Although operating with electric power, the organ retains the original pump and can be operated in that manner. (Source: church brochure)

St. Paul Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod)
146 Tamarack, Laurium, MI 49913; 906/337-0231.
Schuelke, 1902; rebuilt Verlinden, 1963
Placement: rear balcony, right side of console faces the front of the sanctuary

GREAT
8' Diapason
8' Melodia
8' Dulciana
4' Principal
III Mixture
8' Trumpet
16' Great
4' Great
Great Unison Off
16' Swell to Great
8' Swell to Great
4' Swell to Great
Chimes
Tremulant

SWELL
8' Geigen
8' Bourdon
8' Salicional
8' Celeste
4' Harmonic Flute
2' Fifteenth
II Sesquialtera
16' Krummhorn
8' Krummhorn
8' Trumpet
4' Fagotto
16' Swell
4' Swell
Swell Unison Off
Chimes
Tremulant

PEDAL
16' Bourdon
8' Octave Bass
4' Fagotto
8' Great to Pedal
8' Swell to Pedal
4' Great to Pedal
4' Swell to Pedal

Presets are inside the organ chamber

The congregation formed in 1879. The first church building was located on Scott Street in Calumet. The present building was dedicated 1899.
The Schuelke tracker organ was given to the congregation in 1902 by Mr. Ernest Bollman. In 1929 two recitals were performed by Mr. Martin, Chicago, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the church. In 1961 Rudolf Patsloff donated the trumpet rank, which is mounted to the left of the chancel in the front of the church. Franz Ziems, organist for many years, left a bequest to renovate the organ. Renovation was completed by Verlinden Co., Milwaukee, in October 1963. The dedicatory recital was played by Rev. Harvey Gustafson, Minneapolis. He played four more recitals after that time. The chimes were given in memory of John Messner. The casework of the chamber is the work of Arthur Jarvela. (Source: e-mail from church organist Jan List)

Hancock and Houghton

First United Methodist Church
401 Quincy Street, Hancock, MI 49930; 906/482-4190.
Kimball, 1905, tracker, 2M, 11 ranks; rebuilt to electro-pneumatic action 1950; new wind lines, 1998; refurbished 2005 by Fabry, Antioch, Illinois.
Placement: front left dais; console is on a moveable platform
Console: not AGO, but radiating pedalboard

GREAT
8' Open Diapason
8' Melodia
8' Dulciana
4' Principal
4' Flute
22⁄3' Twelfth
2' 15th
4' Great to Great
16' Swell to Great
8' Swell to Great
4' Swell to Great

SWELL 8' Violin Diapason
8' Stopped Diapason
8' Gamba
4' Flute d’Amour
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Flautino
Tremolo
16' Swell to Swell
4' Swell to Swell

PEDAL
16' Bourdon
16' Gedeckt
8' Principal
8' Bass Flute
4' Flute
8' Great to Pedal
4' Great to Pedal
8' Swell to Pedal

The congregation of the First Methodist Church organized in 1860, the first of any denomination to be established in Hancock. The first building was erected in 1861. The present structure of Jacobsville sandstone and brick was dedicated in 1903.
In 1905 the Kimball tracker organ was installed, a gift from Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Roberts. The console was built into the paneling of the chamber with the choir loft on either side and in front, with the organist’s back to the choir and congregation. In 1950 the organ was converted to electro-pneumatic and the console moved from its tracker position to a well at the opposite side of the choir loft. In 1998 the sanctuary was renovated and choir loft was leveled to make a flat dais across the chancel area. The organ console was placed on a moveable platform and new wind lines installed by Fabry, Inc. In 2005 Fabry also replaced slide tuners in the pipes, installed a new blower, and repainted the pipes located above the paneling fronting the lower part of the chamber. (Sources: Monette; church organist Carol Waisanen)

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (ELCA)
1000 Quincy Street, Hancock, MI 49930; 906/482-2381.
Kilgen, 1915? 2M; moved to new building, 1969; console rebuilt and preparation made for additions, Fabry, 2002
Placement: rear balcony; left side of console faces front of sanctuary

GREAT
8' Diapason
8' Gedeckt
8' Dulciana
4' Principal
4' Flute d’Amour
4' Dulcet
12th Dolce
15th Dolce
13⁄5' Dolce Tierce
16' Great to Great
4' Great to Great
16' Swell to Great
8' Swell to Great
4' Swell to Great
Chimes
Unison Off
MIDI to Great

SWELL
8' Violin Diapason
8' Gedeckt
8' Salicional
8' Voix Celeste
4' Principal
4' Flute d’Amour
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Flautino
8' Trompette
8' Oboe
Tremolo
16' Swell to Swell
4' Swell to Swell
Unison Off

PEDAL 32' Resultant
16' Bourdon
16' Lieblich Gedeckt
8' Diapason
8' Bass Flute
8' Gedeckt
4' Choral Bass
8' Great to Pedal
8' Swell to Pedal
4' Great to Pedal
4' Swell to Pedal

Memory Select
Transposer
Swell presets: 5, Swell to Pedal
Great presets: 5, Great to Pedal
Generals: 10, Tutti
Toe studs:
General cancel
10 generals
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Resultant
Tutti

The Gloria Dei congregation traces its roots to 1867 when the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was formed. It was reorganized in 1880 as the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation. The first wood frame building was partly destroyed by fire in 1896 and again in 1909. A brick building was constructed in 1910. Shortly after, a member of the congregation, Andrew Johnson, gave the first pipe organ to the church. In 1955 the name of the church was changed to St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1962 most of the national Lutheran church bodies merged into the Lutheran Church of America. Salem Lutheran (Swedish) and St. Matthew’s (Finnish) merged in 1966 and adopted the name Gloria Dei.
The present building was constructed in 1969, and the Kilgen organ from St. Matthew’s was moved and installed in the new structure. In 2002, the organ was rebuilt by Fabry, Inc. of Fox Lake, Illinois. (Sources: Monette; church records and members)

Grace United Methodist Church
201 Isle Royale, Houghton, MI 49931; 906/482-2780.
Maxcy-Barton, 1931; rebuilt Verlinden, 1971
Placement: left of chancel, below dais

GREAT
8' Open Diapason
8' Melodia
8' Salicional
8' Dulciana
4' Octave
4' Wald Flute
4' Dulcet
22⁄3' Twelfth
2' Fifteenth
16' Great to Great
4' Great to Great
8' Swell to Great
4' Swell to Great
Chimes

SWELL
16' Bourdon
8' Stopped Flute
8' Salicional
8' Dulciana
8' Vox Celeste
4' Principal
4' Flute d’Amour 4' Salicet
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Flautino
13⁄5' Tierce
8' (Syn) Orchestral Oboe
16' Swell to Swell
4' Swell to Swell
Unison Off
Tremulant

PEDAL
16' Sub Bass
16' Bourdon
8' Octave
8' Bass Flute
8' Bourdon
8' Cello
4' Choral Bass
4' Flute
8' Great to Pedal
8' Swell to Pedal
4' Great to Pedal

3 pistons and cancel on Swell
3 pistons and cancel on Great
One toe stud, coupler
1 expression pedal
1 crescendo pedal

Grace’s history from 1854 to 2004 is documented in booklet form by Professor Terry Reynolds of the Social Science Department of Michigan Technological University. The church stems from a “Methodist Class” that formed in 1854, an outgrowth of Methodist missions that had begun around 1832 with the Ojibwa natives of the Upper Peninsula. A frame building was constructed in 1859 and in 1890 money was first raised to purchase an organ. In 1893 a new sandstone structure was built and again, in 1907, church records show efforts to raise money for an organ.
An organ must have been installed in that structure as the church history reports a fire in 1916, which destroyed, among other things, the organ. The present Maxcy-Barton was installed in 1931. It is most likely that the Maxcy-Barton organ of the First Presbyterian Church was also installed at that time as the organs are similar except that the Methodist instrument is larger. In 1971 Verlinden rebuilt the instrument and in the 1990s the console was moved from the dais to the main floor level on left side of the chancel. (Source: Reynolds)

Michigan Technological University
MacInnes Ice Arena, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931.
Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, c1920; installed May 1975
Placement: platform on rafters, west wall of MacInnes Ice Arena, access on a 50-ft. ladder climb
1119 pipes, 15 ranks, 130 stops
drums
bells
130 stops
24 notes, cathedral chimes
32-note pedalboard

This instrument was first installed in the Presbyterian Church, Utica, New York, and later moved to the home of James Thomas, who added theatre organ components from two Pennsylvania theatre organs and accessories from a Boston radio station. The instrument, valued at $75,000, was donated to MTU in the late 1960s through the efforts of John Wagner, class of ’61. It was moved to MTU in 1970 with initial installation done by Wagner and completed by the Wicks Organ Company, Highland, Illinois.
The organ was first played for Michigan Tech’s commencement exercises May 1975 by Gerrit Lamain, director of the Suomi College (now Finlandia University) Choir, Hancock, and later of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lamain entertained hockey fans prior to Michigan Tech’s games until he left the area, returning regularly to play for Tech’s commencement exercises. The console is mounted on a high platform at the west end of the MacInnes Ice Arena. Access is achieved by climbing a 50-foot ladder. An article and pictures featuring this instrument can be found in the April 2000 “Alumnus” magazine of Michigan Tech. (Source: Nordberg)

David and Carol Waisanen residence, Hancock, MI.
Maxcy-Barton, Oshkosh, WI, 2M, 8 ranks, 1931–33?, electro-pneumatic; installed by owner, 1975
Placement: music room, console on balcony (former back porch); organ chamber installed with original paneling and grillework

GREAT
8' Open Diapason 61 pipes
8' Melodia 73 pipes
8' Dulciana 61 pipes
4' Flute 61 notes
Unison Off

SWELL
8' Stopped Diapason 73 pipes
8' Salicional 73 pipes
8' Vox Humana 61 pipes
4' Flute d’Amour 61 notes
Tremulant
Unison Off

PEDAL
16' Bourdon 12 pipes
(20 notes from Sw St. Diap.)
8' Flute (from Sw St. Diap.)

Couplers
16' Great to Great
4' Great to Great
16' Swell to Great
8' Swell to Great
4' Swell to Great
8' Great to Pedal
8' Swell to Pedal

Combination pistons:
3 Swell, controlling Swell and Pedal organs and couplers, cancel
3 Great, controlling Great and Pedal organs and couplers, cancel

Balanced expression pedal
Balanced adjustable crescendo pedal

First installed in the First Presbyterian Church, Houghton between 1931 and 1933, it is believed that this instrument was installed during the same period that a larger Maxcy-Barton was placed in the Grace Methodist Church. Maxcy organs were custom built to fit the acoustics of the space. The organ chamber in the Presbyterian church was at the front of the sanctuary and enclosed in a wooden grillework similar to the one in Grace. The detached console was located below the rostrum and in front of the choir loft, which was an elevated tiered area at one side of the chancel. The building was razed in 1976 due to highway construction, and the instrument was purchased by a private party. The owner converted his back yard to a vaulted music room. The organ chamber is enclosed in the original wood grillework from the church and the console sits on what used to be the back porch of the home. (Sources: The Daily Mining Gazette; Waisanen)

Sts. Peter and Paul Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod)
323 Hancock Street, Hancock, MI 49930; 906/482-4750.
Haase, tracker 1901; modified and electrified by Haase Organ Co., Marengo, IL, 1960; rebuilt, Roscoe Wheeler, Curran, MI, 1997
Placement: balcony, rear of church, left side of console faces front of sanctuary

GREAT
8' Principal
8' Quintaten
8' Gemshorn
4' Octave
22⁄3' Twelfth
2' Fifteenth
8' Great to Pedal
4' Great to Pedal
16' Great to Great
4' Great to Great

SWELL
8' Rohr Gedeckt
8' Salicional
4' Koppel Flute
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Flautino
8' Oboe
Swell Unison Off
Tremolo
16' Swell to Great
8' Swell to Great
4' Swell to Great
16' Swell to Swell
4' Swell to Swell
8' Swell to Pedal

PEDAL
16' Sub Bass
16' Quintaten
16' Posaune
8' Principal
8' Rohr Flute
8' Oboe
4' Choral Bass

Great expression pedal
Swell expression pedal
Crescendo pedal
Sforzando pedal piston
Swell enclosed
Great open

Presets for Swell and Great individually and in combination; located within the organ chamber.
MIDI to Swell, Great, Pedal
Schulmerich carillon keyboard attached to console

The congregation, the first Lutheran one in the Copper Country, was founded in 1867 as the Deutsche Evangelische Lutherische Peter and Paul’s Gemeinde in Hancock. The first church structure was built in 1867 and the present church structure in 1881.
In 1901 the organ was purchased for the sum of $500 from St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The dedicatory recital was played by Professor Karl Haase. Most of the original pipes were constructed in Berlin, Germany by August Laukhuff Orgelteile. New ones were constructed and added by the Durst Organ Co., Erie, Pennsylvania. Under the Rev. Mr. Boomhower the organ was refurbished in 1997 at the cost of $25,000. Improvements included work on all inner mechanical works and solid state circuitry. Total cost for repairs and improvements up to 1998 was $30,000. This church also houses in its belfry tower three bells of 1,000, 800, and 600 pounds. (Sources: Monette; service bulletin)
PLEASE GO TO CONTINUATION

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.

Hinners Opus 2696

Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois

Living Word Church, Roberts, Illinois

Relocation and resurrection

I received a telephone call in May of 2010. A lady familiar with Buzard Pipe Organ Builders’ restoration work had purchased a Hinners organ at auction, which she hoped could be installed in Living Word Church in Roberts, Illinois. Would we be interested and available to remove the organ from the former Sibley (Illinois) United Methodist Church and reinstall it in Roberts? Of course! As is usually the case, we were immediately asked to state exactly how much the project would cost, despite the fact that it had been seven years since we had last seen the organ. Power had already been cut to the building, so we had absolutely no way to accurately assess the current condition of the instrument. Even though we were in the midst of an installation elsewhere, it was necessary to remove the Hinners organ immediately, since the windows were about to be taken out of the building and the building demolished.

This two-manual and pedal, 71⁄2-rank electropneumatic action organ was built by the Hinners Organ Company of Pekin, Illinois, for an unknown location. It appears to have been constructed originally with tubular-pneumatic action. We believe that the original date of the instrument was before 1919, since the pitch of the organ is A-435. It was rebuilt by Hinners circa 1924 with electropneumatic action and installed by them in the United Methodist Church of Sibley. The manual windchests were originally designed to accommodate one more stop in each division, but the prepared-for mechanisms and pipes for these possible stops were never completed. At some time in the 1960s or thereafter, the console mechanisms were replaced with supply-house equipment by a Peoria technician.

Buzard Pipe Organ Builders first encountered this organ in 2003, when we undertook restoration work on the pneumatic actions for the speaking façade pipes. The organ continued in service until the Sibley church closed in 2009.

The hasty removal from Sibley was, of course, followed by the classic “hurry up and wait.” It would, in fact, be two years before Living Word Church completed their preparations to receive the instrument (providing an elegant space when all was said and done, however). From the outset, it was made clear that the project must proceed with limited funds. We did convince the church that restoration of the main reservoir was an important step, since it would not be easily removable once the rest of the organ was erected. No money was available to restore the windchests, even though we had no idea whether they still worked. Of course, money did become available to repair and repaint the façade pipes and replace the fabric in the screening that forms part of the case front.

At long last, as site preparations were being completed by church volunteers, we began work at the Buzard factory. Cotton-covered wiring had to be replaced to bring the organ into compliance with the revised electrical code. Pipes absolutely needed to be cleaned, and stoppers releathered (or nothing could have been tuned). Early in March 2012, we had the organ winded in the factory, loaded the pipes, and thanks be to God everything still worked! 

Everything was taken down, brought to Roberts, and the resurrected organ was first heard again on Easter Day, April 8, 2012.

In this day and age when so many organs go unheard or sit in storage, we are deeply appreciative of the foresight of one woman who “just wanted the young people to hear what a real hymn sounds like.” The future of this particular little organ is secure, and we look forward to its continuing in its intended purpose—to create another generation of churchgoers who know and love the pipe organ! 

—Keith Williams

Director of Service & Associate in Sales