The eminent Will Headlee, now Professor Emeritus of organ at Syracuse University, presented a recital in June, 2004, to celebrate both the completion of the new organ division (an appropriate plaque is affixed to a wall of the balcony chamber) and to mark the centennial of the chancel organ (original Estey), whose contract was signed in 1904. A splendid variety of sounds emanates from these two sources additionally, the metal chime tubes and the 15 antiphonal-division façade pipes are visually appealing. Twenty-five chimes, playable from the organ console, had already been in place for several years on the opposite wall of the balcony. In the spring of 2004, K & M built the antiphonal division, containing 6 ranks (sets) of pipes, located in the rear balcony (right side, facing). Our long and continuing association with K & M has proved greatly advantageous both in terms of improvements and regular maintenance. For many decades, this has been accomplished by Kerner & Merchant Pipe Organ Builders of Syracuse. Think of the thousands of times organ music has filled the sanctuary since then, during regular Sunday services and for other occasions, with ever-increasing effectiveness thanks to additions of ranks of pipes and other measures to develop the organ’s potential. Imagine that momentous first Sunday in January, 1906, when the new Estey Opus 217 began to serve the church.
#Estey organ electric windows#
That name, along with those of many other Baptists, is engraved under one of the sanctuary stained glass windows which date from the early 1900s. A gift from the Pierce family made this possible. Accordingly, it was far more suitable and effective for our sanctuary than its predecessor.Īround the turn of the last century, the congregation was growing rapidly, undoubtedly a factor in the decision to purchase a larger organ with an increased number of tonal resources. Certainly we may conclude that the Estey, costing $3, 700, contained well over twice the amount of pipes and stops to control them.
It is interesting to consider the $2, 500 difference in the prices of these two organs, separated by 50 years. (Often, some of the pipework from a former organ can be incorporated into a new one.)
The church asked the Estey firm if they could use anything from the Andrews instrument in the new organ the answer was negative. Today, the organ is quite different and larger than it was over a century ago in 1905. The Andrews organ served the church up until the Estey Company replaced it with the present one. One only wishes that a stoplist, detailing the organ’s resources was provided, but alas, there is none. Their records state that the 2-manual (keyboard) organ for First Baptist cost $1, 200, and that in 1861, something further was done - perhaps some sort of addition. They built several hundred organs, including many in the Central N.Y. However, a small amount of information does appear, including the installation date, in a book about the Andrews Organ Company, first operating out of Waterville, then Utica, and finally, Oakland, California. Regrettably, church records are not helpful. Let us turn back the clock over 150 years to 1855, when the first pipe organ was purchased for our 13-year-old sanctuary.
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