Pipe Organ Database

From OHS Database Builders editor, Stephen Hall, December 10, 2016. —

David Marr met John Colton while they were both working in the Wurlitzer firm in North Tonawanda, New York. When Marr left Wurlitzer in 1915 to form his own company, he persuaded Colton to come with him. Colton was named a partner in the new concern, Marr & Colton of Warsaw, New York, although he was not an investor. The new firm did well through the 1920s, producing over 500 mostly theater organs in fifteen years, but declined rapidly with the advent of films with sound tracks. The Great Depression of the 1930s forced the closing of the weakened company. Colton left in 1932, moving to St. Louis and becoming a salesman for the Kilgen firm. Marr continued on his own as a service company.

Source:

• Loyd E. Klos, "Marr & Colton Theatre Organs" Theatre Organ: Spring 1963 (American Theater Organ Society).

From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). -

Partnership of David Marr and John J. Colton in Warsaw, New York, 1915-1931; succeeded by David Marr Co.

Staff: B. B. Conable; A. Libbin; W. T. Morris; Frank J. Muckensturm; Thomas J. Quinlan; Benjamin F. Sperbeck; C. A. Van Arsdale; William D. Wood.

Sources:

• The Diapason, May 1918, 2.
• The Diapason, June 1920, 12.
• The Diapason, February 1922, 7.
• The Diapason, January 1925, 6.
• David Junchen, Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, vol. 1 (Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1985), 289.
• Piano and Organ Purchaser's Guide, Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries, (published by Music Trades, New York) 

Additional information from Jon Sibley: Theatre organs were their primary product, but they also built a small number of church organs.