J. H. & C. S. Odell & Co.
1877

Updated by William M. Worden, who has heard or played the organ.

We must abandon the oral history that this organ was in two cases at the sides of the gallery as a photo has come to light that can only be this organ. It shows a case centrally placed in the gallery. Its flats, however, are recognizable as those now placed at the sides of the wide facade now present in the church.

Updated by William M. Worden, naming this as the source of information: Detroit Free Press, June 5 and June 7, 1877. In addition William M. Worden gave this as a source of information: Oral tradition.

This Odell replaced a Stevens lost in a fire in 1876. (see photo of burned-out church). It is often said that there is pipework from the Stevens surviving in the present Möller/Wanherin-Weickhardt but it's hard to see how that can be, given the gutted building seen in the photo. The Odell was in two cases in the corners on either side of the gallery at the front of the church and the facades facing the congregation survive and are connected by a flat with the pipe tops having a shallow concave curve installed by Wangerin-Weickhardt to connect the Odell cases and create a continuous facade across the gallery. It is said that the Odell console was in the space between the two cases, attached to one of them, with trackers passing under the floor to the other case.

This entry describes an original installation of a new pipe organ.

Identified by William M. Worden, citing information from this publication: Detroit Free Press, June 5 and June 7, 1877.