Originally built in 1876 for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After the Centennial Exhibition closed in the fall of 1876, the buildings were purchased by the Permanent Exhibition Company, which also purchased the Roosevelt organ. In 1881, the organ, said to cost its builders $28,000, was sold to the Charitable Mechanics Association for $10,000 and placed in their large new hall on Huntington Avenue in Boston.

Roosevelt completely rebuilt the organ and raised the wind pressure on the Solo division "in order to obtain orchestral effects." It was opened by a recital played by the London organist Frederic Archer on June 27, 1882.