Pipe Organ Database

a project of the organ historical society

Delaware Organ Co. View Extant Instruments View Instruments

Distinction:

Tonawanda, New York, 1956-1996.
Classification: Builder

Update This Entry
November 11, 2015:

From the OHS Database Builders Listing editor, December 18, 2016. -

Timeline of Company History

1956 - Delaware Organ Co. founded by Robert Colby with two partners in Tonowanda, New York.
1970 - Roger Colby, son of Robert, joined the firm full time.
1976 - Roger Colby formed Kimber-Allen Inc, as a distributor for a British supply firm making electrical components for organs.
1978 - Raymond Colby, son of Roger, began working full time in the family firm.
1979 - Roger Colby relocated to Johnson City, Tennessee to expand Kimber-Allen, Raymond remains in Tonowanda with Delaware Organ Co.
1984 - Roger forms R.A. Colby, Inc. in Johnson City Tennessee, Kimber-Allen turned over to British management.
1989 - Robert Colby retires, Raymond Colby assumes control of the firm.
1996 - Raymond Colby closed Delaware Organ Co. and relocated to Johnson City Tennessee to continue the growth of R.A. Colby, Inc.

Source:

  • R.A. Colby, http://www.racolby.com/, Accessed Nov 11, 2015.

We received the most recent update for this note from Database Manager on February 11, 2019.
October 30, 2004:

Note from the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, rev. ed., by David H. Fox (Organ Historical Society, 1997). Edited for the OHS Online Database, 2017. -

Established by Eugene Burmaster and Robert Colby in Tonawanda, New York, 1956; owned by the Colby family, 1967; active in 1989.

Staff: Raymond Colby; Robert J. Kaiser; William Milligan.

Sources:

  • Letter to David H. Fox.
  • The American Organist: April 1989 (American Guild of Organists), 94.
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We received the most recent update for this note from Database Manager on April 29, 2019.

Database Specs:

  • 58 Organs
  • 4 Divisions
  • 9 Consoles