Pipe Organ Database

See also Barckhoff & Malarkey.

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

Carl Barckhoff Sr. Born 1849 in Wiedenbrück, Westphalia, Germany; Son of Felix Barckhoff, brother of Lorenz Barckhoff; father of H. C., (Henry Carl), Carl Jr., Felix (II), and Paul Barckhoff.

Carl Barckhoff [Sr.] started with his father Felix's firm established in 1865 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; he succeeded his father as head of the firm in 1878, and relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as Barckhoff Brothers (the firm was later known as Carl Barckhoff Church Organ Co., Barckhoff Organ Co., and Carl Barckhoff Co.) He relocated to Salem, Ohio, in 1882; then to Mendelssohn {now Clairton}, Pennsylvania, in 1895; and then to Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 1897. He was in Pomeroy, Ohio, in 1900; the firm went bankrupt there in 1913; and relocated to Basic, Virginia, the same year. The firm was acquired by E. C. Malarkey in 1917. Carl Barckhoff died 16 April, 1919.

Sources:

• The Diapason, August 1913:1, September 1913:10, and July 1919:2.
• David Junchen, Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. 1 (Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1985) 54.
• Martin Kares, The German Element in American Organbuilding, 1700-1900 (dissertation, Marburg 1990).
• Musical and Sewing Machine Gazette 28 Feb. 1880:51;
• Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975) 305;
• The Tracker, 22:4, 1.