Restoration of Cleveland's Trinity Lutheran Beckerath continues

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.

Berghaus Pipe Organ Builders, Bellwood, Illinois
St. Jerome Catholic Parish, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Berghaus Pipe Organ Builders has built a new pipe organ for the people of St. Jerome Catholic Parish in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Opus 226 contains 53 ranks, 42 stops, and 3,019 pipes. The project was made possible by the generosity of the people of St. Jerome Catholic Parish, as well as other benefactors and contributors from the community.
Plans to relocate St. Jerome Parish began in the fall of 1997 as it became clear that the parish was expanding beyond the physical limitations of their historic downtown church. By August 1998, the parish had purchased 37 acres of land and begun planning for a parish-wide campaign. The school was constructed first, and was dedicated on September 11, 2004. A second parish-wide campaign began in January 2005, resulting in the dedication of the church on November 15, 2008. The new 1,000-seat nave nearly tripled the previous sanctuary’s capacity of 350, and provided the parish with a bright, modern worship space with a more favorable acoustical signature.
From the onset of the project, it was clear the existing 1918 Kimball organ would need to be incorporated into the new instrument to minimize new pipe costs. The two-manual, 15-rank organ, located in the center of the rear balcony, was entirely installed in a case against the rear wall. Despite additions in the early 1980s, the organ was of typical early twentieth-century liturgical design. The stoplist incorporated six stops at 8′ pitch, two stops at 4′, and a 16′ Bourdon in the Pedal. Added ranks included a 22⁄3′ Quinte, 2′ Octave, and Mixture IV in the Great. Original voicing and pressures were retained on the Kimball pipes at the time when the organ was augmented, which did little to bridge the gap between the old and new pipes. Thankfully, the new pipes were under-voiced, which would give Berghaus ample latitude in tonal finishing. Additionally, the bottom octave of the 4′ Flute d’Amour was abandoned, and the pipes were shifted down to create a 2′ Flute in the Swell.
In the new church, the organ was planned to occupy both ends of the nave. Great, Swell, and Pedal divisions would be entirely new, and located in the rear gallery. The Antiphonal division would be installed in one chamber, above and to the left side of the chancel. We chose not to divide the resources of the Kimball, but rather use them to create the new Antiphonal division. Furthermore, the Antiphonal chamber would be situated at the same height as the gallery organ to promote tuning stability.
Special consideration was taken in planning pipe scales for the gallery instrument, with the intent that the Antiphonal organ would not be a dark distraction to the new organ. Our present tonal philosophy reflects an eclectic approach, which is conducive to blending early twentieth-century voicing styles. We took our cues from the best elements of late nineteenth-century English organs, tempered somewhat by elements of romantic French and early romantic German organbuilding. All flue scales in the gallery are variable, changing throughout the compass for acoustic and practical reasons. The result is an instrument that, while separated by distance, successfully works as a whole tonal concept, which in turn is able to effectively provide the combinations necessary for liturgical music and beyond. Differing foundation and flute resources are available for cantorial accompaniment, projecting close to the lectern. The Antiphonal also contains the softest string sounds for tonal effects in anthems and voluntaries. When the full resources of the Antiphonal are coupled to the gallery organ, the Antiphonal “carries” the sound of the gallery organ forward down the nave, while at the same time seamlessly blending with the gallery without detracting from its timbre.

Great
The Great division consists of 15 stops, 16 ranks, and is divided between one large slider chest and one electro-pneumatic chest. The division is located directly above the Swell enclosure, and is based on the 8′ Principal, which is located primarily in the façade and constructed of 75% tin, with spotted metal in the treble. The 8′ Principal is scaled near Normalmensur plus two, which on 80mm wind pressure fills the nave with a warm yet gentle tone. It is voiced full in the bass, and has clarity in the treble to reinforce the melody line. The Principal chorus is complete through a four-rank mixture, and includes mutations that are meant to reinforce the plenum. Flues are primarily in spotted metal with the intent to add warmth to the overall tone, yet allow for brightness in finishing.
Additional 8′ stops (Flute Harmonique, Bourdon, Gemshorn, and Gemshorn Celeste t.c.) complete the standard fonds d’orgue, as well as add the unique flexibility of a third, unenclosed celeste. Tonal considerations were made to allow the scaling of this hybrid pair to be generous, yet with a low cut-up to provide clarity of tone. The 8′ Trumpet is designed with German shallots to provide a blending quality, which is meant to enhance the plenum. By contrast, the horizontal Trompette en Chamade, which is mounted on the front of the case, is scaled and voiced to blend with full organ registration, and can be used as a solo stop for processionals and fanfares. Both reeds are voiced on 100mm pressure.

Swell
The Swell division consists of 17 stops, 15 ranks, and is also divided between one large slider and one electro-pneumatic chest. The division is based on the 8′ Diapason of spotted metal, which provides foundation to a complete principal chorus through the Plein Jeu. The scale of the Swell Diapason is three steps smaller and completely different in tone than the Great Principal. The Swell contains a wide variety of stops, ranging from French-style strings to a liquid 8′ Rohrflöte, which is unified at 16′ and made of wood. Mutations are broadly scaled to provide for a rich Cornet decomposée. We elected to use English construction for the 8′ Trompette in the Swell in order to provide a contrast in tone to the Great Trumpet.

Antiphonal
Restoration of the Kimball pipework involved restoration of each pipe in one form or another. While minor repair and remedial voicing work was necessary, the general pipe-making was excellent. Few pipes had been physically altered in previous rebuild efforts, which allowed for maximum flexibility in finishing. We replaced the leather on the stoppers of all wood pipes, and in the spirit of the original Kimball, we provided twelve bass pipes to the Flute d’ Amour, and returned it to 4′ pitch. We also replaced the low twelve pipes of the Open Diapason, which replaced the badly damaged pipes of the original façade. All spotted metal pipes were dunked in a restorative solution, and fitted with new stainless steel sleeves. Finally, an 8′ Vox Humana was provided by Dr. Lee Erickson, friend to the project.
The 8′ Open Diapason of this division provides the organist with yet another Diapason tone. Made from a high-lead alloy, these pipes provide the tone one would expect from a Diapason of this vintage. The pipes are cut dead-length and scrolled. Undoubtedly they would have been originally over-length and slotted. Deep nicks in the languid and lower lip allow for open-toe voicing, which allows this stop to truly enhance the gallery instrument.

Pedal
Consisting of 19 stops, 8 ranks, the Pedal provides a solid foundation to this full instrument. Through calculated borrowing and tonal finishing, this division provides an ample variety of timbres and volumes. The 16′ Principal in the Pedal division (façade) is made from a combination of zinc and 70% tin pipes, and is finished with a silver-tone patina. The Pedal is further supported by an impressive unit 32′ Kontra Posaune, which is voiced full in order to provide an equal blend of harmonics and fundamental. We used tin-faced German shallots throughout the compass of this reed, which provides unique overtones required to enhance the pedal plenum, particularly when considering this stop will be used in part in cantus firmus.

Chests and wind system
Flue pipes of the Great, Swell and Antiphonal sit on Berghaus slider and pallet chests. Reeds and offset chests are electro-pneumatic action. The entire organ is supported by an interior steel structure, which provides stability while allowing unimpeded access to interior parts of the mechanism. Wind to the pipes is supplied by two blowers—one blower for the gallery organ, and one for the Antiphonal. Our wind system provides absolutely steady wind through a balance of schwimmers and reservoirs. Wooden wind conductors help eradicate turbulence and are effective in eliminating noise. Slider chest wind pressures are 80 and 75mm, while reeds and Pedal are on 100mm.
The gallery organ case and organ console are constructed of maple, and are designed to incorporate architectural elements found throughout the worship space. Keyboards are in bone and rosewood, with African Kewazinga Bubinga stop jambs and coupler rail.
The construction of the organ at St. Jerome Parish was achieved through the dedication and teamwork of the entire Berghaus organization, which extends its sincerest gratitude to the people of St. Jerome Parish for enabling us to contribute to the life of their parish:

President: Brian Berghaus
Director of sales and marketing: David McCleary
Tonal design: Jonathan Oblander, tonal designer; Kelly Monette, head tonal finisher
Reed specialist: Steven Hoover
Structural and visual design: Steven Protzman
Shop foreman: Jeff Hubbard
Office manager: Jean O’Brien
Service coordinator: Joseph Poland
Construction/assembly/installation: Stan Bujak, Chris Czopek, Steve Drexler, Jeff Hubbard, Trevor Kahlbaugh, Kurt Linstead, Kelly Monette, David Mueller, Jonathan Oblander, Joseph Poland, Daniel Roberts, Tim Roney, Paul Serresseque, Ron Skibbe, Jordan Smoots, Paul Szymkowski, Mark Ber, Randy Watkins.

In addition, Berghaus Pipe Organ Builders gratefully acknowledges the invaluable assistance of Scott R. Riedel & Associates, Ltd. in the project, as well as the expertise and leadership of Fr. John Yockey, pastor, and Tom Koester, past organist of St. Jerome Parish.
­—Kelly Monette & Jonathan Oblander
Berghaus Pipe Organ Builders

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.