After a detailed survey of the organ prior to writing a condition report, I can make still further corrections to notes made from other people's memories as unreliable as mine. First, it is the Great Tuba, not the Swell Cornopean that was sent to Fred Oyster for restoration. This stop originally had harmonic trebles with no sky racks, and many of the resonators had collapsed and broken at the block. There is now a makeshift skyrack in place that would be replaced with a proper rack as part of a larger restoration. Many repairs have been made over the last 15 years that have kept the organ and console in functional condition, but now all the chest pouch boards need releathering, currently operating on leather nearly 100 years old. The adjustment of the manual primaries done as part of the volunteer releathering of these units in the late 1980s is sketchy and needs to be redone as well so all the leather is in new condition going forward, and in proper adjustment. The big problem is the Reisner electric switches that are slow, and similar units used in other instruments are now aging out. The old cotton wiring is still in place, and would need to be replaced at great expense in order to upgrade the Reisner switches. The pneumatic relays for all the unit stops are still intact however, and have relatively new leather. Richard Whitelegg became tonal director the year this organ was built, and his influence can be heard in the bright diapason work. The Gottfried chorus reeds are some of the last Moller used before starting to make all reeds in house besides the Voxes and Clarinets, and are excellent examples of their kind. The string voicing is outstanding, especially the Great Gamba, and as good as anything anyone else was doing at this time, including Kimball. Moller no doubt built some indifferent organs during this period, but here is an example where the stars, sun, and moon all aligned. One only misses the Great upperwork starting to appear in organs Whitelegg oversaw during his early tenure. The workmanship, (the Moller clunky chest design notwithstanding), especially of the pipework, is first class, as is the recent renovation work. The facade pipes were originally a non-glossy gold bronze, and would be improved by returning to an architectural color different than the wall color (there are at least three paint layers on top of the gold). The pneumatic console has been renovated without alteration. No if only they could get rid of all that carpet, laid down in the late 1960s.

In a further correction to my original post, The Swell Cornopean was refurbished by Fred Oyster, not David Broome. The 1980s consortium of volunteers releathered the manual primary actions, not the entirety of the organ's note valves, which are now in dire need of releathering. The Diapasons surprisingly are all of a hard Geigen quality lending the plenum a somewhat stringy quality, not helped by the expanse of carpet in front of the organ which is sucking the lie out of the bass and mid-range. The 5 strings are exceptional of their kind, as are the 5 reed stops, but the truly superb strings are the surprising glory of the instrument--not unlike the sides being the star of the meal. Tonally, the organ rises above the prosaic and formulaic stoplist and is better than anticipated for a typical instrument of the period, with individual stops of unexpected beauty. With Brahms instead of Buxtehude on the music rack, the organ makes a good account of itself, only being severely and unnecessarily hampered by reams of thick carpet.

In a correction to my earlier post, it was the Swell Cornopean that was restored by Broome, not the Great Tuba. I visited the organ last week, and found it to be in remarkable condition for a pneumatic organ nearing 100 years of age. However, there are "tip of the iceberg" signs of impending failures with miscellaneous dead notes relating to failing leather pouches. Several of the reservoirs were releathered by amateurs within the last 40 years. The console is fully functional, indicating it has had attention in the relatively recent past. The idiosyncratic and nonsensical stop tab layout dictated by an organist advising the family, is annoying and defies logic--this is one aspect of the original console that should be modified to accepted console standards. It is hoped that the organ will receive major restorative attention in the near future before the action failures become serious and debilitating.

Ownership of the church building was transferred from the First Alfred Seventh Day Baptist Church to Union University Church in July 2021.

Updated through online information from Scot Huntington. -- The town was originally known as Alfred Center. The organ was placed in the refurbished sanctuary following the 1929 Palm Sunday fire which severely damaged the original 1886 Steer & Turner instrument, op. 211. The Moller was purchased by the Rosebush family in memory of their mother Sara.

The initial arrangements were handled by Stephen Rosebush of Appleton, Wisconsin, on behalf of the family, (and who had initially made contact with Ford & Reynolds, the territorial Moller agent in Chicago ), but the town of Alfred fell within the jurisdiction of Buffalo agent R.J. Jackson who had also negotiated directly with the church. A major row then ensued between the two Moller agents as to who was owed the substantial commission. F&R was notorious for paying graft under the table in order to secure a contract, and had promised a kickback to Stephen Rosebush as well as a commission to an organist in Appleton, Wisconsin whom they were cultivating for the purpose of recommending Moller organs to potential clients, and who, as a friend of the family, was responsible for dictating to the factory the rather bizarre and illogical stop tablet layout. Ultimately, the Alfred church intervened on behalf of Mr. Jackson whom they felt provided outstanding service, and the two Moller agents split the commission with the factory, also making the "commission" payments to the two Wisconsin parties.

Owing to the difficult financial conditions of the time, the family giving the organ was not able to complete their payment obligations until November of 1931. The contract was signed in March, 1930 and the organ was delivered the following June. In addition to Moller, the other builders submitting tenders for the project were Austin, Estey, Gottfried, and Marr & Colton.

The original pneumatic relays and switches were replaced with noisy and slow electro-magnet supply house units in the late 1960s, and current plans are hoping to replace these failing units with solid state equipment in order to return the action to its original quick response.

In the 1980s, members from both churches using the ca. 1850 building, (the Alfred Seventh Day Baptist and Union University congregations), releathered the windchest valve actions. The on-going renovations of the organ are now under the care of the Parsons Organ Co. of Penfield, NY, and under whose direction the Tuba was recently refurbished by Broome & Co. of Granby, Connecticut.

The organ woodwork is walnut, and the facade pipes were originally painted "antique gold bronze."


The above information is from the extensive correspondence file maintained in the Moller Collection by the OHS American Organ Archives.

Updated through on-line information from Larry Philbrick.

Updated through on-line information from James R. Stettner.

Updated through on-line information from Laurel Buckwalter.

Identified from factory documents and publications courtesy of Stephen Schnurr.