Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)
2008-08-06 - Identified through on-line information from James R. Stettner. -- Original home unknown. According to a Billings newspaper article from 1976, it was originally in a vaudeville theatre. The nameplate said Robert Morton, but listed Highland, Illinois as the location - so this was a Wicks-Morton. According to the Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. II, the only Wicks-built Morton in a Montana theatre was opus 543 built in 1925 for the Maragrite Theatre in Anaconda, Montana. At an undocumented time, the organ was relocated to the American Lutheran Church in Chinook, Montana. It was later removed and is believed to have been sold at auction. It was purchased by J.L. Gesell of Chinook, but was evidently never installed — rather having been stored in the garage. It was advertised for sale in the "Classifieds" section of the June 1972 issue of Music, Vol. 6, no. 6, pg. 45. The organ was purchased by Apostles Lutheran organist Herb Noennig for $2,000.00, who along with church volunteers spent 3 years cleaning, repairing, refurbishing, and installing the organ. It was installed in a chamber on the back wall of the rear gallery. The organ was dedicated on Sunday, October 10, 1976 by Prof. William H. Birsching, Dir. of Music at Northwestern Lutheran Academy in Mobridge, South Dakota. In 1999, the organ was replaced by an electronic substitute. Subsequent disposition is unknown. -Database Manager
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