Steere & Turner [John S. Steere]
Opus 267, 1888

Updated through online information from T. Daniel Hancock. -- "The First Baptist Church of Essex is right next door to Our Lady of Sorrows RC Church. The 1846 white frame church building is in the very rare Egyptian Revival style. It has a facade that slopes inward and has the shape of a pylon of an ancient Egyptian temple. The Baptist church is home to a 13 stop Steere & Turner organ, Opus 267 of 1888. The organ was designed for this church and is located in the front behind the pulpit. It still has its original 1888 painted facade in red, brown and gold banding; the facade is in a remarkable state of preservation. The case is polished chestnut, something I had never seen. There were some tonal changes made around 1930, when the original hand pumped double rise bellows was replaced with a modern single rise bellows. The organ was cleaned and repaired by Alan McNeely in 1992, but the tonal changes were left as they were. A new Zephyr blower was installed behind the organ in 2004. Even with the changes this organ remains in fine playing condition, and we were all impressed with its versatility and effectiveness in both literature and accompaniments. I pointed out to the Crawl attendees that the organ has three pedals for registration: Great Forte, Great Piano, Great to Pedal reversible." (excerpted from Stephen Roberts posting to Piporg-L)

Restorative repairs ca. 1987 by McNeely Organ Co. Status Note: There 1991.

This entry represents the original installation of a new organ.