Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)
2023-07-17 - OHS Archivist Bynum Petty identified this move through a history of the Springfield Second Congregational Church which noted the Springfield Church bought E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings No. 781 in 1875, and sold the 1855 organ to Enfield in 1874 for $1,000. Who moved the organ to Enfield is not known, it could have been either the Hook company prior to the installation of their new organ, or the local Steer & Turner firm. The fact that the church sold the organ for $1,000 suggests the Hooks did not take the organ in trade, and the organ sale may have netted them more money than Hooks would have given on a trade. This would also suggest the deal was handled locally, rather than through the Hook company. The Hook organ existed intact until sometime in the mid-late 1960s when the church replaced the venerable pipe organ with a very mediocre imitation instrument. The case sides were removed and the facade pushed up flush against the rear gallery wall to be used as a false front to hide the spinning speaker horns of the fake instrument. Some of the original gilded decorations have been subdued with brown paint, but otherwise the facade looks as it originally did, with the gilded Diapason facade pipes still intact. In the early 2000s, with the imitation failing on schedule, the church entertained the notion of finding a second-hand instrument to place behind the historic facade. However, they only had available the dollar amount a new imitation would cost, which was far less than what a relocated organ would cost, and without Board permission to fund-raise the necessary amount, so a second fake instrument was purchased with speakers again placed behind the historic Hook facade. -Scot Huntington
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