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The William A. Johnson Organ Company of Westfield, Massachusetts, which later became Johnson & Son Organ Company, was a firm that built 860 pipe organs throughout the United States and in Canada and Bermuda. The company operated from 1844 through 1898. All Johnson organs were completely mechanical (tracker action) organs, with Barker lever tracker-pneumatic actions utilized in larger organs after 1871.
In 1843, William Allen Johnson operated a contracting business in Westfield, Massachusetts. While he was completing the construction of a new church building for his own Westfield church, an organ builder of the firm E. and G.G. Hook & Hastings arrived with wagon loads of parts, pipes and materials which were to be installed in the new church. When asked about the availability of a worker to help set up the organ, Mr. Johnson readily applied for the job.
During the construction of the Hook organ, Johnson became interested in the art of organ building. The following winter he built a small parlor organ of just one rank. He continued his new craft, building seven more parlor organs in the next five years. In 1848, he built two small one-manual church organs of five or six ranks.
Continuing with church organ construction, Johnson built organs of increasing size. His first two-manual organ was Opus 13, 1849, at the Congregational Church in Westfield, Massachusetts. This organ contained about 15 ranks. Further expanding his territory and size, Opus 40, a 34-stop three-manual organ, was built in 1855 for the Park Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York. Another 1855 organ is believed to be the oldest Johnson organ which still exists in its original form. It is Johnson's Opus 43, built at the First Ward Presbyterian Church (later the Westminster Presbyterian Church) in Syracuse, New York.
In 1871, a fire destroyed the Johnson factory. All tools and materials, along with Opus 348, 349, and 350 that were under construction were destroyed. At the time of the fire, Opus 345, a typical William Johnson tracker pipe organ of about 18 ranks (Pictured) was being installed at the First Baptist Church of Penn Yan, New York. Most of its pipework, some the last to be built at the original factory, is still in use in the Church's present organ.
After the fire, an old Westfield church building was utilized for a factory. About that time William A. Johnson's son William H. Johnson, who had worked in the shop since he was 16, became an official member of the firm. With a new name, "Johnson and Son", the company was back in operation soon enough to produce 52 new organs in Chicago, Illinois, after the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. A new factory was built in 1873, and another in the mid-1880s. Johnson and Son continued the work of the William A. Johnson Organ Company, building an additional 500 organs. Their largest organs were of around 55 ranks.
Throughout the years, Johnson organs were well known for their "excellent balance, splendid dignity, and beautiful voicing". Highest quality materials and workmanship were used, and Johnson's organ pipes were always of the finest quality. Tracker organs eventually became less popular, and, not wishing to switch to tubular-pneumatic- or electro-pneumatic-action organs, the company ceased operations in 1898. Their last organ was a large 3-manual organ, Opus 860, at St. Paul's Church in Chicago.
Elsworth, John Van Varick (1984). The Johnson Organs. Boston: Boston Organ Club or the Organ Historical Society.
Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts was an American builder of a large number of pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner (1866–1960), Arthur Hudson Marks (1875–1939), Joseph Silver Whiteford (1921-1978), and G. Donald Harrison (1889–1956). The company was formed from the merger of the Skinner Organ Company and the pipe organ division of the Æolian Company in 1932.
A theatre organ is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s.
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments from Germany for resale in the United States. Wurlitzer enjoyed initial success, largely due to defense contracts to provide musical instruments to the U.S. military. In 1880, the company began manufacturing pianos and eventually relocated to North Tonawanda, New York. It quickly expanded to make band organs, orchestrions, player pianos and pipe or theatre organs popular in theatres during the days of silent movies.
Casavant Frères is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs.
Ernest Martin Skinner was an American pipe organ builder. His electro-pneumatic switching systems advanced the technology of organ building in the first part of the 20th century.
The Holtkamp Organ Company of Cleveland, Ohio is America’s oldest continuously operating pipe organ workshop. The company was founded in 1855 by Gottlieb Votteler. The work produced by the shop has evolved over the years in terms of architectural style, sound, and mechanism. During this time the company has had a number of names, including: The Votteler Organ Company, The Votteler-Hettche Organ Company, The Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling Organ Company, and finally in 1951, The Holtkamp Organ Company.
Mathias Peter Møller, commonly known as M.P. Möller or Moeller, was a prolific pipe-organ builder and businessman. A native of the Danish island of Bornholm, he emigrated to the United States in 1872 and founded the M.P. Moller Pipe Organ Company in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, in 1875. The city of Hagerstown, Maryland, took notice of Möller's early successes and induced him to move his business there in 1881 to help make it a viable business center in Western Maryland. The company remained in business in Hagerstown until 1992, with hundreds of employees at its peak and a lifetime production of over 12,000 instruments.
J.H. & C.S. Odell is the pipe organ building firm founded by John Henry and Caleb Sherwood Odell in New York City in 1859. To date the firm has built over 640 pipe organs, which can be found all over the world, though the majority of the firm's work can be found in the Northeast United States.
Dobson Pipe Organ Builders is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Lake City, Iowa.
Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent Airchest, and many remain in fine playing condition to this day.
E. and G.G. Hook was a pipe organ designing and manufacturing company, located in Boston, Massachusetts, which operated from 1827 to 1935. It was started, and originally run, by brothers Elias and George Greenleaf Hook.
The Bartola Musical Instrument Company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA, was a producer of theater pipe organs during the age of silent movies.
William Allen Johnson of Westfield, Massachusetts, US, was a builder of pipe organs during the later half of the nineteenth century.. Previously, Johnson had operated a successful construction company in Westfield, where some of his buildings may still be seen.
Brindley & Foster was a pipe organ builder based in Sheffield who flourished between 1854 and 1939.
The Logan Tabernacle is a tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is located in Logan, Cache County, Utah. It is used regularly for church meetings, most often semi-annual stake conferences, seminary graduations, musical concerts, and lectures. The tabernacle welcomes visitors and is open for tours each summer from June to September. It is the site of many local celebrations, including the city's annual Summerfest Arts Faire held each June on the tabernacle grounds.
The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago is one of the largest congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), located in the Magnificent Mile neighborhood of Chicago, directly across Michigan Avenue from the John Hancock Center.
Casavant Frères Ltée. Opus 1841 is a pipe organ built by the famous Casavant Frères of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. The organ was first completed in 1911 as Casavant Brothers - Opus 452 for St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at 40 Bentinck Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. St. Andrew's later became St. Andrew's United Church and is now the Highland Arts Theatre.
Hinners Organ Company was an American manufacturer of reed and pipe organs located in Pekin, Illinois. Established in 1879 by German-American John Hinners, the firm grew through several partners, becoming Hinners & Fink in 1881, Hinners & Albertsen in 1886, and Hinners Organ Company in 1902. In the 1920s Hinners established a subsidiary, the Illinois Organ Supply Company, which mass-produced parts for Hinners and other firms. Business declined in the 1930s due to the Great Depression, changing technology, and increasing competition. Hinners became a service company in 1936 and closed in 1942.
The Positive Organ Company was an English pipe organ maker, established in London in 1898 by Thomas Casson, although with some earlier antecedents. The firm was best known for small, one-manual organs, which were able to be moved about. It ceased trading in 1941, but the name was revived in 2020 with a new, unrelated organ builder.
Charles Brenton Fisk was an American pipe organ builder who was one of the first to use mechanical tracker actions, instead of electro-pneumatic actions, in modern organ construction. Originally involved in the Manhattan Project, Fisk made a career change from atomic physics to organ building. He later co-founded C.B. Fisk, Inc., a firm that has built many respected organs worldwide.