David Harris received this Email from Keith Williams 3-5-2025:

Hi, Dave!
Here are my notes from my first visit to this organ in 2001:

Manual

8’ Open Diapason 1-12 stopped wood, 13-17 zinc, 18-58 common metal
8’ Dulciana 1-12 common with Salicional?) 13-58 common metal
8’ Salicional 1-12 stopped metal in facade, 13-58 common metal
4’ Octave 1-5 zinc, 6-58 common metal

Pedal

16’ Sub Bass 1-27 stopped wood

The only stop which has remained unaltered is the Pedal Sub Bass, and these pipes did not receive the minimal maintenance (repacking of the stoppers) which they should have.

The Open Diapason pipes from 18-58 have been switched with the Octave pipes from 6-46. This results in the scaling being reversed. Nothing was done to the Diapason rackboard, so the Octave pipes are loose in their present location. Crude attempts have been made to alter the voicing of these stops from their original character to a more “Baroque” sound.

All of the pipes in the facade are speaking pipes, not dummies. They served as the bottom octave of the original string stops (Dulciana and Salicional.) They have been disconnected! A crude piece of wood was installed to cover the opening in the bottom of the Swell enclosure where the tubing originally passed from the windchest out to the facade toeboard.

The original Salicional pipes have been discarded. In their place, a set of tapered spotted metal pipes has been installed to serve as a 2-2/3’ Twelfth. Modifications were made to the original toeboard and rackboard for the Salicional.

The original Dulciana pipes have been cut shorter, and combined with some fill-in pipes, to turn the Dulciana into a “2’ Fifteenth.” Again, the toeboard and rackboard for this stop have been modified. The original voicing of the Dulciana pipes has been seriously altered, in addition to their having been made to speak a much higher pitch than originally intended.

The intended effect of these tonal changes was to turn the organ from a fine example of Romantic late 19th-century American organ building, into a failed attempt at someone’s idea of a more “Baroque” organ. Even if this goal were to be considered acceptable (which I do not) the result is very poor in sound.

The person who did this (Rodney Degner) also removed the original Hook reservoir and replaced it with a home-built device that wouldn't adequately wind a single stop . I eventually traveled to Baltimore to examine and document the details of a twin organ which still had its original wind system intact. We duplicated it and installed it in the Elkhart Chapel in 2004.

We subsequently returned the Diapason and Octave pipes to their original locations and undid the "revoicing" as best we could, returning the sound of these stops to their original character for the most part. We also lined the Swell box with zinc to keep the pipes from repeatedly being eaten by rodents, which is why the shutters are kept hooked closed.

We acquired a Hook Dulciana some time past but the funds are just not there to put it in.

The Pilcher was originally in the home of Governor Oglesby, which was located across the stone arch from the Cemetery Chapel. Oglesby had the Chapel built for his wife and they would walk across the bridge to church there. The Pilcher was transferred to the Christian Church before the mansion was torn down. Yes the fate of the Pilcher is uncertain at best.

Keith Williams
Buzard Pipe Organ Builders
www.Buzardorgans.com

Updated through online information from David Harris.

This entry represents the original installation of a new organ. Updated through online information from James R. Stettner. -- Pipe fence facade of thirteen attractively stenciled pipes.

According to Keith Williams, missing reservoir replicated by Buzard in 2005. Future work pending.