Pipe Organ Database

For more information on the company, see the main entry: Schantz Organ Co.

For more information on the Schantz family, see Schantz Overview

From the OHS PC Database, Builder Listing editor, updated February 26, 2016. -

Abraham J. Tschantz, a cabinet maker, established a business building reed organs in Kidron, Ohio, in 1873.¹ The firm name became A. J. Schantz, Sons & Co. when Edison F. and Oliver A. Schantz joined the firm in 1892.² (The initial 'T' was dropped from the firm's name at that time, but most family members retained it in their personal names until about 1899³) The business was relocated to Orrville, Ohio. The firm began pipe organ production between 1885 and 1893.⁴ By 1913, the firm was headed by Edison, Oliver, and Victor Schantz.⁵

All production of pipe organs was halted during World War II, the firm made tool benches as part of the war effort. Organ building resumed after the war, and the firm was renamed Schantz Organ Co. in 1946.⁶

Sources:

1. Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Indiana University Press, 1975) 297-298.
2. James H. Cook, "Schantz" The Organ: An Encyclopedia, edited by Douglas Bush & Richard Kassel (Utah and New York: Psychology Press, 2006), 492.
3. Jeffery Dexter, Schantz Organ Co., in an email to the editor received October 12, 2015.
4. Ochse, "History".
5. Ibid.
6. David Fox, A Guide to North American Organbuilders (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991), 258.

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

Established [as A. J. Schantz] in Kidron, Ohio, 1873; became A. J. Schantz, Sons & Co. when Edison F. and Oliver A. Schantz joined the firm, 1892; relocated to Orrville, Ohio; made tool benches during World War II; succeeded by Schantz Organ Co. 1946.

Sources:

• The Diapason, March 1925, 6.
• The Diapason, April 1944, 13.
• David Junchen, Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. 2 (Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1990), 589.
• Piano and Organ Purchaser-s Guide, Purchaser-s Guide to the Music Industries, (New York: Music Trades, 1918).
• The American Organist, April 1989, 29.