2005-11-21 - Identified through on-line information from James R. Stettner. -Database Manager
Stoplist copied from the console September, 1994 Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded
Anaconda, Montana
First Presbyterian Church
M.P. MÖLLER, Opus 8873, 1956 - Original Specifications
GREAT (Expressive) SWELL (Expressive) PEDAL (Expressive)
8 Diapason 16 Bourdon 16 Diapason
8 Gedeckt 8 Gedeckt 16 Bourdon
8 Gamba 8 Gamba 8 Diapason
8 Gemshorn 8 Gemshorn 8 Gedeckt
4 Octave 8 Gemshorn Celeste 4 Octave
4 Flute 4 Flute 4 Flute
4 Gemshorn 4 Gemshorn
2-2/3 Gemshorn Twelfth 2-2/3 Nasard
2 Gemshorn Fifteenth 2 Flautino
8 Trompette 8 Trompette
Chimes 4 Clarion
Tremolo
STOP / RANK / PIPE ANALYSIS
16 Diapason (Ped) 12 Extension of the 8' Diapason.
16 Bourdon (Sw/Ped) 12 Extension of the 8' Gedeckt.
8 Diapason (Gt/Ped) 61
8 Gedeckt (Gt/Sw/Ped) 61
8 Gamba (Gt/Sw) 61
8 Gemshorn (Gt/Sw) 61
8 Gemshorn Celeste (Sw) 49 Tenor C.
4 Octave (Gt/Ped) 12 Extension of the 8' Diapason.
4 Flute (Gt/Sw/Ped) 12 Extension of the 8' Gedeckt.
4 Gemshorn (Gt/Sw) 12 Extension of the 8' Gemshorn.
2-2/3 Gemshorn Twelfth (Gt) 7 Extension of the 8' Gemshorn.
2-2/3 Nasard (Sw) 7 Extension of the 8' Gedeckt.
2 Gemshorn Fifteenth (Gt) 5 Extension of the 8' Gemshorn.
2 Flautino (Sw) 5 Extension of the 8' Gedeckt.
8 Trompette (Gt/Sw) 61 Harmonic.
4 Clarion (Sw) 12 Extension of the 8' Trompette.
Tremolo (Sw) Affects the entire instrument.
Chimes (Gt) -- Console preparation.
PIPE SUMMARY
Diapason Gedeckt Gamba
73 pipes 97 pipes 85 pipes
Gemshorn Gemshorn Celeste Trompette
85 pipes 49 pipes 73 pipes
COUPLERS FINGER PISTONS
Swell to Pedal [8] Full Organ 1 - 4
Great to Pedal [8]
Swell to Great [8] PEDAL MOVEMENTS
Expression (bal.)
Crescendo (bal.)
FOOT LEVERS
Gr. to Ped. Reversible (rev)
ACTION: E-P unit VOICES: 6 STOPS: 27 RANKS: 6 PIPES: 426
NOTES
This congregation was formed on February 2, 1886 when 20 people met in the “Brick
Church” to organize a Presbyterian church. The “Brick Church” belonged to the
Methodist Episcopal congregation, and the Presbyterians had permission to meet
there which they did for almost three years.
By the month of August, 1888, the members of the First Presbyterian Church of
Anaconda had raised enough money to choose a building site and let a contract for
their own edifice. The contract was let on August 2, and by August 30 the cornerstone
had been laid with a ceremony at 7:00 in the evening. By September the walls were up
and the roof soon followed. The building was ready for use by December. The first
organ used in the new church was likely a reed organ.
The first pipe organ was purchased in 1898. It was built by the Lancashire-Marshall
Co. of Moline, IL. - successors to the Moline Organ Co. The instrument was free-
standing and encased. It had 2-manuals and pedals with __ ranks of pipes. The key and
stop action were mechanical and wind was supplied by means of pump handle attached
directly to the feeder bellows located directly beneath the reservoir. In later years,
a water engine replaced the need for hand-pumping, and ultimately an electric blower
replaced the water engine.
A discrepancy casts a shadow of confusion over the origins of the organ. First Pres-
byterian Church in Anaconda also appears on the opus list of the Bennett Organ Co. as
having received that firm's opus 133 in 1900. It was a free-standing and encased organ
of 2-manuals and pedals and operated by means of tubular-pneumatic action. Robert J.
Bennett didn't join Lancashire-Marshall as shop superintendent until 1902, and the name
didn't change to the Bennett Organ Co. until 1908. Perhaps the 1900 work was the instal-
lation of the water motor and conversion of the playing action to tubular?
The old organ was sold to the Ellisforde Church of the Brethren in Tonasket, Washington
in 1955. Arrangements were made through correspondence with the organ unseen by the
Tonasket congregation. They had lost a newly purchased Balcom and Vaughan unit pipe organ
in a fire, and had elected to build their own replacement. In January 1956, they arrived
with a truck in Anaconda to remove the organ, and they reportedly spent the night in
sleeping bags in the aisles of the sanctuary.
Remodeling of the sanctuary and the installation of the new 2-manual, 6-rank unit M.P.
Möller pipe organ were completed by September of 1956. The organ was placed in a central
chamber, high on the front wall of the sanctuary with the organ speaking down the central
axis of the church. The console was placed in the choir loft on the right side with the
organist facing across the chancel – the congregation to the left.
Sources: Möller opus list; Church history, Bennett opus list; JRS; extant organ
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