Scot Huntington on February 2nd, 2026:
The organ was originally built for the State School of Agriculture in Rochester, founded in 1846. The school moved to new and significantly larger quarters, several thousand acres, and built a new campus beginning in 1907. The school originally was co-ed, but following the move to the town of Rush, the school was limited to boys. At its inception, there were 17 dairy farms on the Rush campus, and it encompassed such a large area, it was formed as the town of Industry, within the town of Rush. The school was renamed the State School of Agriculture and Industry. The premise was the young boys attending the school, essentially a reform school, needed life career training to be productive citizens. It was reported the organ was playable, somewhat, into the early 80s, but has since been abandoned for several decades and is now unplayable. The organ is powered by an old Kinetic blower, age unknown. The present console, of oak, is a stopkey console that was an undated replacement of the original. The console interior appears to be in the style of Moller, but its exterior appearance was typical of both Moller and the Buhl company of Utica. While the original primaries have had direct-electric magnet assists added to the primary valve stems, the organ is otherwise in original condition, with the exception of minor changes in layout required by the move to the chamber in the new campus non-denominational protestant church auditorium. While it is unplayable at present, the organ is completely restorable, and represents the only "playable" 19th-century electric action that is intact and unaltered.