Whitefield United Methodist [previously First Methodist Church]
33 W Main Street
West Brookfield, MA
OHS convention: 1968
Images
2021 - Organ facade visible behind congregation (Photograph from an archival source: Church website, submitted by Paul R. Marchesano/Paul R. Marchesano)
2024-04-19 - Church exterior (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Facade and church interior (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Keydesk and stops en fenêtre (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Pedalboard (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Hitch down swell pedal (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Builder's nameplate (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Right stopjamb (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Left stopjamb (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
2024-04-19 - Organ façade and case (Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)
Consoles
Keydesk
- Organ type: Traditional Without Cover
- Console position: Keydesk Attached
- 2 manuals
- 15 stops
- 19 registers
- 3 divisions
- Key action Type: Mechanical (Details Unknown)
- Stop action Type: Mechanical
- Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Vertical Rows on Flat Jambs
- Manual compass: 56 notes
- Pedal compass: 25 notes
- Pedal Type: Flat Straight
- Expression Type: Trigger/Hitch-Down Expression
- Combination action: Fixed Mechanical
Notes
2004-10-30 - Status Note: There 1985. -Database Manager
2004-10-30 - From Unitarian, Washington, D.C. (2-20s); via Bridgeport, CT. Installed here 1884 or 1885. Pedal was originally 13 notes. -Database Manager
2005-05-16 - Hitchdown Swell Pedal. -Database Manager
2024-04-25 - The present church building came from an abandoned Universalist Church in Templeton (MA), dismantled and moved to West Brookfield in 1859. A bell was added in 1878. In 1885 the building was remodeled. At that time E. & G. G. Hook organ Opus 223 was moved from a Unitarian Church in Washington DC and installed here by Hook & Hastings. On April 19, 2024, I visited and met with 3 members of the church about photographing the organ for the OHS database. At present the organ is playable and is used occasionally for church services. During the visit, church members observed the incorrect name of the church for the database. [ Excerpt from “A history of West Brookfield 1675 – 1990] by Jeffrey H. Fisk and the West Brookfield Historical; Commission, 2009. Page 47. “In 1966 …the church voted to change the name to the Whitefield Methodist Church honoring Rev. George Whitefield (1714 – 1770) [one of the founders Methodism, who in 1770 preached a revival in a field on Fort Hill in what is now West Brookfield]. In 1968 the word ‘United’ was added to the name. The Whitefield United Methodist was now the official name.” The nearby West Warren Methodist Church merged in 1996 with the West Brookfield Church.
Information received from Stephen St. Denis on 2024-04-24 -Paul R. Marchesano
Stoplist
Bellows Signal. Hook down Swell Pedal. Pedal Actions: Great, full; Great, piano single action in only [sic] Source: Tracker 1:1 October 1956 Page 6; corrections from console photos
GREAT Open Diapason 8, Flute Bass 8, Flute 8 (TF), Viol D'Amour 4 (TF), Fifteenth 2, Octave 4, Flute 4
SWELL Open Diapason 8, Stopped Diapason Bass 8, Stopped Diapason Treble 8 (TF), Principal 4 (TF), Dolciana 8 (TF), Hautboy 8, Celestina Bass 4, Tremulant
PEDAL Sub Bass 16
SWELL to GREAT 8, GREAT to PEDAL 8, SWELL to PEDAL 8
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