Better Pipe Organ Database

The Aeolian Co. Opus 1068 (1908)

Residence: Robert Todd Lincoln ("Hildene")
Manchester, VT

Images

2023-06-01 - OHS Citation (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Keyboards, coupler tabs, and player controls (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Player mechanism and music roll (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Right stop jamb (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Left stop jamb (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Builder's nameplate (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Divided organ cases from the 2nd floor balcony (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Divided organ cases on the main stairway (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - Console with the organ's player roll collection (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

2023-06-01 - "Hildene" house and gardens (Photograph by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

Consoles

Main

2 manuals
16 stops
17 registers
Key action Type: Electrical
Stop action Type: Electrical
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 30 notes

Notes

2004-10-30 - Restored in 1980 by Larry Nevin and Frank Thompson at a cost of $10,000. Includes player. Was residence of Robert Todd Lincoln. -Database Manager

2023-06-11 - From Wikipedia: Robert Todd Lincoln was the eldest of the four sons of President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, and the only one of them to survive into adulthood. He first visited Manchester Center, Vermont at age 20 in the summer of 1863 when he, his brother Tad, and their mother stayed at the nearby Equinox House to escape the heat of Washington, DC. Hildene remained occupied by descendants of the Lincoln family until 1975, when the next to last descendant of the Lincoln-Harlan family, Mary Lincoln Beckwith, granddaughter of Robert and Mary and daughter of Jessie and Warren Wallace Beckwith, died there. In 1978 the non-profit organization, the Friends of Hildene, purchased the property and began restoration of the house, outbuildings and gardens. Hildene is furnished almost entirely with Lincoln family furniture and contains artifacts belonging to Robert Todd Lincoln and his parents. In 1908 an Æolian pipe organ was installed at a cost of $11,500. In 1980 the Friends of Hildene restored the organ. Robert Lincoln, the only child of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln to survive to adulthood, became Chairman of the Pullman Company, the largest manufacturing corporation at the turn of the 20th century. -Jeff Scofield

Stoplist

Typed stoplist from the OHS PC Database. Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded

Hildene,  Manchester Village, VT
1908 Aeolian Company, Op. 1068
(Stoplist Paul Opel 1998)

Great

Diapason          8  (Open Diapason)
String P          8  (Gemshorn)
String F          8  (Viola di Gamba)
Flute             8  (Grosse Flute)
Flute P           8  (Flute d'Amour)
Clarinet          8  (Clarinet)
Tremolo

Swell

String P          8  (Salicional)
String F          8  (Violin Diapason)
String (Vibrato)  8  (Voix Celeste)
String PP         8  (Dolcissimo)
Flute             8  (Gedacht)
Flute (high)      4  (Flute Harmonique)
Flute (deep)     16  (Lieblich Gedacht)
Oboe              8  (Orchestral Oboe)
Vox Humana        8  (Vox Humana)
Tremolo

Harp      Manual I - Off - Maual II

Pedal C-f'

Flute (deep) P   16  (Sw)
Flute (deep) F   16  (Bourdon)

Couplers 

Gt, Sw       16-UO-4
Sw/Gt           8-4
Gt, Sw/Ped      8

Combinations

Manual I    P MF  F  Release
Manual II   P MF  F  Release

Crescendo
2 Swell Pedals

Aeolienne

Aeolienne Control
Aeolian 58 note music
Aeolian Ventil
Aeolian Tempo
Aeolian Reroll

The home of Robert Todd Lincoln, Hildene is a grand country house open to the public since 1978. 

The organ replaced an Aeolian Orchestrelle, and is installed in the stairwell of the mansion, where 
it can be played from the console or the Aeolienne roll player. It was restored in 1980 by Larry 
Nevin and Frank Thompson, and is believed to be the oldest residential pipe organ in the United 
States still playing in its original state. 

A recording of the instrument featuring the roll player and organist Edwin I. Lawrence in period 
repertoire is available.

Documents

(1908-06-30) Contract and stoplist, from "The Aeolian and its Music" by Rollin Smith, via Roman Lizak Contract and stoplist -Jeff Scofield