ca. 1930s - Organ in chancel loft, showing console, manuals, and some stops (Photograph from an archival source: Second Baptist Church archives, submitted by J. A. Hefner/J. A. Hefner)
Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)
2024-01-02 - Organ was in the chancel choir loft - it appears in a series of archival photographs dating to the "1930s or 1940s", one of which shows Reverend W. S. Smith and his wife. His resignation and other church information is in the county historical society, but I have not been able to access it yet. The organ looks much like the 1890s-1910s tracker sort, with stencilled pipes. Church was established in 1859, apparently dedicated new building in October 1944, and in 1960 they acquired a 1914 Pilcher, opus 829, from Central Methodist [Central installed a Möller that year, replacing the Pilcher]. The loft today looks much the same as it did in the old photos, just without this anonymous organ...though a music rack can be seen, almost as if the Pilcher console is there now... -J. A. Hefner
2024-01-26 - There is some information about this instrument in the church histories of ca. 1940 and 1989. Oddly enough, the older one states the “beautiful pipe organ was a partial gift of Andrew Carnegie” after introducing the current 1883 building. The 1989 history offers more details and indicates the Carnegie organ was a Mason & Hamlin, purchased during remodeling of 1909-1910. Mason & Hamlin did build some tubular-pneumatic pipe organs around that time (which are recorded in the Pipe Organ Database), so this may be the instrument in question – the stop jambs and façade could pass for M&H. No mention is made of a prior organ, and the 1989 history goes on to state that an irate parishioner damaged the “first organ”. Nothing further is mentioned about tha organ, nor anything about the Pilcher acquired from Central Methodist in 1960. From a ca. 1937-1940 church history by Naomi Taylor, compiled by Charles D. Swayne with George W. Fleming "In 1883 the old church was sold and the present location on S. Wittenberg Av. was purchased and the church ediface [sic - edifice] was built, in the pastorate of Rev. P. H. Williams, the liquidation of endebtness [sic - indebtedness] was through Rev. E. W. B. Curry. The beautiful pipe organ was a partial gift of Andrew Carnegie, the organ costing $2500." From the 1989 130th Anniversary church history: "A lot on Wittenberg [Ave] was purchased and a building erected. The cornerstone of the church is dated 1883. The date of the record of the deed to the property is May 8, 1883. Worship services were held in the basement for eight years. Work on the main auditorium was finally begun with the dedication set for July 1892. A tornado on July 13, 1892 lifted the roof out of place, blew out windows, except the large one in front, which was damaged. Insurance adjustments, plus $300.00 from the Citizens Committee Relief Fund, plus contributions from liberal friends allowed opening of the new auditorium December 25, 1892, under the Reverend P. H. Williams. Final payment of the debt of the church was made under the Reverend H. C. Bailey. The mortgage was burned December 15, 1901. Eight years later, remodeling was begun under the Reverend N. H. Pius and completed under the Reverend R. T. Frye, at a cost of $10,000. Remodeling included the installation of a Mason [&] Hamlin organ costing $2,250, a partial gift of Andrew Carnegie. The first organ was mutilated by a brother who believed an organ was not an instrument for a church. A judge fined him for the offense. This debt was cleared under the Reverend E. W. B. Curry on February 15, 1920." -J. A. Hefner
2024-01-28 - From https://organforum.com/forums/forum/pipe-organs/classic-church-pipe-organs/34486-mason-hamlin-pipe-organs - another interesting note about Mason & Hamlin pipe organs: Casey or "SubBase" writes "The pipe organ project was announced with a press release in 1903, right after M&H's acquisition by The Cable Corporation of Chicago, so I believe it was not under the impetus or desire of the Mason family, but rather a way for Cable to leverage the M&H name to sell a few mediocre pipe organs. They were making them in 1906 according to some other literature and news articles. They were fully duplexed tubular pneumatic beasts. And actual selling point in the brochure was that the stop lists were exactly the same for each manual.(there were 3 stock models IIRC, with 3-5 ranks) The photo above matches the very degraded (xerox of a xerox) pic in the materials I have that shows 3 or 4 of them in a row in the stock rooms." The only photo thumbnail looks like the top of the closeup in https://pipeorgandatabase.org/instruments/54037 and the Second Baptist image shows a few more stops -J. A. Hefner
Regrettably, it is not possible to display the information about the sponsor of this pipeorgandatabase entry or if there is a sponsor. Please see About Sponsors on Pipe Organ Database.