First Universalist Church
319 West Columbia Street
Springfield, OH
Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)
Images
Unknown - Church Exterior (Photo in Clark County Historical Society archives, courtesy of J. A. Hefner (before 1965)/Database Manager)
Unknown - Church Exterior (Photo in Clark County Historical Society archives, courtesy of J. A. Hefner (before 1965)/Database Manager)
Unknown - Facade Pipes (Photo in Clark County Historical Society archives, courtesy of J. A. Hefner (1965)/Database Manager)
Unknown - Udean Votaw at organ console, showing keyboards and stops (Photo from Springfield newspaper article, 1969, courtesy of J. A. Hefner (ca. late 1960s)/Database Manager)
Unknown - Udean Votaw at organ console, showing combination action trundles and pedals (Photo in Clark County Historical Archives, courtesy of J. A. Hefner (ca. 1960s)/Database Manager)
Unknown - Organ in new location (Photo in Clark County Historical Society archives, courtesy of J. A. Hefner (ca. 1969)/Database Manager)
Consoles
Main
- Organ type: Traditional With a Keyboard Cover That Can Be Lifted To Form a Music Rack
- Console position: Keydesk Attached
- 2 manuals
- 3 divisions
- Key action Type: Mechanical (Details Unknown)
- Stop action Type: Mechanical
- Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Horizontal Rows on Terraced/Stepped Jambs
- Manual compass: 61 notes
- Pedal compass: 30 notes
- Pedal Type: Concave Straight
- Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Details Unknown)
- Combination action: Fixed Mechanical
- Has combination trundles
Notes
2019-03-18 - This entry describes an original installation of a new pipe organ. Identified by J. A. Hefner, who gave this as the source of the information: Church/organ referenced in records at the Clark County Historical Society. This organ, tracker-action with over 600 pipes, was installed around the time of the church's construction in 1910. In 1965, the church closed and the city purchased the property, auctioning everything off and tearing down the church...to make a new parking lot for Memorial Hall [now demolished]. The organist at the time, Udean Votaw [wife of William H. Smith, Jr], appreciated the instrument and wanted to install it in her house, but it was too large to install. At auction, the organ sold for $230 [the auction total was $496!], to Roscoe Votaw and William H. Smith, Sr. [her father and father-in-law, respectively]. They disassembled it and transported it to 4940 Mahar Road, Smith's farm. They constructed a new building for it, even reusing the doors, roof, and floor of the old church, according to 13 Oct. 1969 newspaper article about the organ. It's not clear if the organ still exists, though its rescue and relocation were certainly significant. -Database Manager
2019-04-17 - Updated by J. A. Hefner, who gave this as the source of the information: 1969 Springfield newspaper article. -Database Manager
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