Better Pipe Organ Database

J. W. Steere & Sons (1899)

Park Methodist Church: Sanctuary
Union Park
Hornellsville [now, Hornell], NY

Images

late 1930's - early 1940's - Choir in front of organ (Photograph from an archival source: Hornellhome.com, submitted by James R. Stettner/Scot Huntington)

1930's - Choir in front of organ (Photograph from an archival source: Hornellhome.com, submitted by James R. Stettner/Scot Huntington)

1930 - Front of church after facade redecoration. (Photograph from an archival source: Hornellhome.com, submitted by Scot Huntington/Scot Huntington)

ca. 1900 - Historic image of the new Steere, with original facade pipe decoration (Photograph from an archival source: Hornellhome.com, submitted by Scot Huntington/Scot Huntington)

ca. 1880s - Historic image of the exterior (Photograph from an archival source: Hornellhome.com, submitted by Scot Huntington/Scot Huntington)

Consoles

Main

Organ type: Traditional With a Keyboard Cover That Can Be Lifted To Form a Music Rack
Console position: Keydesk Attached
2 manuals
17 stops
21 registers
3 divisions
Key action Type: Tubular Pneumatic (Details Unknown)
Stop action Type: Tubular Pneumatic (Details Unknown)
Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Horizontal Rows on Terraced/Stepped Jambs
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 30 notes
Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Not Meeting AGO Standards)
Combination action: Blind Action
Has combination thumb pistons

Notes

2023-03-27 - The large brick church was built on the town square in 1877, built around the 1834 frame church and retaining its ceiling, which was subsequently dismanted from the inside out. The 1899 Steere cost $2250 plus $150 for an electric motor (presumably to power the feeder bellows), minus a $100 credit for the old organ (unknown maker). The organ was electrified with a remote stoptab console at an unknown date but presumably the late 1940s. The church was redecorated about this time and the center of the organ facade was covered with drapery, but at some point after a 1961 photo, this drapery concoction was removed, and the original facade with shortened center pipes is seen in an Easter 1971 photo-- the last Sunday in the old church before it was demolished for urban renewal and an arterial highway that ran through this section of town and consummed everything in its path. The renamed United Methodist Church built a new contemporary structure at the outskirts of town in North Hornell, dedicated ca. 1972. The Steere organ was reported to have been moved without change to the new building by the Peckham company of Elmira. Further research is required to determine if the organ still exists or has removed. The entire organ was enclosed in a single Swell enclosure except for the unenclosed Great 8' Diapason and Pedal Sub Bass. -Scot Huntington

Stoplist

Transcribed verbatim from the ledger book. Source: Steere ledger book 1899

Hornellsville [Present-day Hornell], N.Y.
Park Methodist Church

J. W. Steere & Son (1899)

Compasses: 61/30
Tubular-pneumatic action
Great and Swell in single expression enclosure
All stops full compass

GREAT ORGAN
8 ft. Open Diapason [unenclosed]
-------------
8 ft. Melodia and stopped bass [wood]
8 ft. Dulciana
4 ft. Octave
4 ft. Flute d'Amour [wood]
2 ft. Super Octave
8 ft. Trumpet

SWELL ORGAN
16 ft. Bourdon [wood]
8 ft. Open Diapason
8 ft. Salicional
8 ft. Stopped Diapason [wood]
8 ft. Aeoline
4 ft. Violina
2 ft. Flautino
8 ft. Oboe and Bassoon

PEDALE ORGAN
16 ft. Sub Bass Bourdon [unenclosed, wood]
16 ft. Lieblich Gedackt [fr. Swell]

MECHANICAL MOVEMENTS
Swell to Great
Great to Pedale
Swell to Pedale
Tremolo [Swell]

PEDAL MOVEMENTS
Balanced Swell pedal

PNEUMATIC PISTONS*
No. 1 Manuale 1st p
Manuale 2d pp
Pedale corresponding registers

No. 2 Manuale 1st mf
Manuale 2d p
Pedale corresponding

No. 3 Manuale 1st f
Manuale 2d mf
Pedale corresponding

No. 4 All registers in manuales and pedale including
reeds and couplers

Piston "0" Escape stop for all others
Piston "On" to connect the stop action
Piston "Off" to disconnect the stop action

* Given the pneumatic technology of the time, plus the inclusion of stop-control on/off pistons, it is presumed the combination was blind, i.e. did not physically move the stopknobs, allowing the organist to change the hand registration while a preset combination was engaged.

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