From staff reports
The First United Methodist Church in Clarion will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the installation of its Austin pipe organ during at 2 p.m. Nov. 7 gathering at the church.
Organists for the program will include: Mary Brooks, Janice Grunenwald, Christopher Long, Jean Mitrosky and Christina Shrewsbury.
Mary has been the organist at First United Methodist Church of Clarion for more than 40 years. Janice is organist for both Grace Lutheran Church and Immaculate Conception Church in Clarion. Chris formerly served as assistant organist and currently teaches choral and instrumental music at Keystone Junior Senior High School.
Interspersed with the organ pieces will be brief narratives about the history of organ music in the church. The narratives will feature coordinating slides of the organ pipes as well as historical photos.
On the screen there will be an opportunity to watch the fingers and feet of the organists as they offer their talent in ways you may not have been able to see before.
A reception will follow the musical program in the gathering area. Keyboard students will also be given the opportunity to see the organ console after the program.
The program is free and open to the public. However, a love offering will be accepted which will provide financing for the maintenance and preservation of the organ. For more information, please call the church office at 226-6660.
History of the pipe organ
Organ music was first heard by the Clarion Methodists in 1871, 150 years ago, during the pastorate of Rev. C. C. Hunt, when a cabinet organ was installed in the original church building.
According to an account written by the Rev. B.F. Delo in 1904, that organ was met with some resistance from the church members as an innovation that was not “Methodistic.”
When the new church was built in 1889, it included an organ gallery behind the pulpit, where a pipe organ was to be installed at a later date.
However, a new instrument was not purchased until December 1893 and it was not a pipe organ. The Ladies Social Society purchased a Mason & Rich Vocalion.
By June of 1894, a Weber pipe organ was installed. It was purchased by the Ladies Aid Society.
In 1916, the Christian Advocate, a western Pennsylvania Methodist publication, reported that the church in Clarion had a “great organ.”
In 1920, under the pastorate of the Rev. William E. Bartlett, it was announced Mrs. Anna Brenoel Keatley had presented to the congregation a new pipe organ as a memorial to her late husband and his brothers William, Frank, and John Keatley.
The contract was awarded to the Austin Organ Company, of Boston, at a cost of $6,743.
By June 1921, 100 years ago, the new organ had arrived and the workmen had begun installation.
The weekend of July 21 24 was a great celebration, with a recital on Thursday evening by John Bell, of Pittsburgh, a worship service Friday evening, the dedication of the organ at the Sunday morning service, and another service on Sunday evening.
The 1921 Austin organ had 18 stops, 15 ranks, and 998 pipes.
Fifty years after the original installation, in 1971, the Austin Organ Company was again engaged to rebuild the organ. The cost of the rebuilding was $43,600.
The renovation of the sanctuary and the rebuilding of the organ took place during the pastorates of the Rev. William McCartney and the Rev. George Crooks.
Additional stops were added in 1983. Currently the organ has are 27 stops, 26 ranks, 1,543 pipes and 25 chimes. The various pipes are made from a tin-lead alloy, annealed zinc, and clear sugar pine and poplar woods.
The Mary McKissick Brooks Organ Fund was established in 2018 for the purpose of providing funds for future repairs and maintenance of the organ so that it will furnish music for the people of Clarion for many years to come.