Calvinistic Congregational Church / Faith United Parish
820 Main St.
Fitchburg,
MA
01420 US
Organ ID: 12617
In 2013 a dwindling and aging membership of Faith United was experiencing difficulty in maintaining the property. The building was sold to Casa De Gracia y Restauración, or the House of Grace and Restoration. The three congregations continued to meet in the building until the Faith United members decided to disband in 2017. Faith United held its final worship service on June 24, 2018.[5] As of August 2020 the building continues to be used by Casa De Gracia y Restauración. The latter church's Facebook photos still show the organ and console in place.
Updated through information from a church brochure, 1990s, courtesy of Pastor Justin Hildebrandt:
The pipe organ at Faith United Parish was built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, Connecticut. The contract for the instrument was signed on June 21, 1915. It was a gift to what was then the Calvinistic Congregational Church from Mrs. Daniel Simonds who paid $11,000 for the organ installed, finished, tuned and ready to play. The organ is a three-manual instrument of thirty-eight stops arranged in four divisions: great, swell, choir, and antiphonal. The first three divisions are located in the main chamber at the front of the sanctuary. The display pipes showing the location of the antiphonal organ can be seen at the rear right side of the balcony.
Our organ is Austin Organ Opus 591. The stained glass windows above the decorative pipes were also given by the Simonds family (of Simonds saw fame). Those pipes by the way are completely decorative. In the rear of the church is the antiphonal organ. Its pipes are housed in a specially designed "paper room" above the sanctuary. Unfortunately, some animals got in and knocked over many of the pipes causing it to be inoperable.
From Judith A. Ollikkala: Extant, Echo not playable. Rebuilt with new console by Austin in 2002.
Information identifying this instrument from the Austin Organs, Inc. web site, accessed December 29, 2004: http://www.austinorgans.com/organ-research.htm.