In a letter dated Sept. 8, 1948, D.A. Pressley, representing M.P. Möller Pipe Organs wrote to Rev. A.F. Kamler, pastor of the newly formed St. Joseph Parish, outlining specifications for a pipe organ to be built for the soon-to-be constructed St. Joseph Church.
From the dedication of the church on Sept. 11, 1949 until late 2009, 60 years, St. Joseph Church was blessed with a pipe organ. By 2009, the organ was already in a state of decline when two unfortunate situations occurred. During a church remodeling project, a heavy concentration of construction dirt and dust, deadly enemies of a pipe organ, settled in the organ pipe chambers, accelerating the decline of the organ. (There are 1,186 pipes hidden from view inside chambers on both sides of the gallery.) Also, at some point, someone climbed into the right pipe chamber and trampled many of the smaller pipes underfoot. The fate of the Möller pipe organ was now sealed. A small electronic organ was purchased until a plan could be devised concerning what to do about the pipe organ. For many reasons too complicated to outline here, no plan was forthcoming.
Thirteen years later St. Joseph Parish leadership is ready to ask if it is God’s will and timing that we replace the small electronic organ with a beautiful new pipe organ.
Stay tuned to From the Organ Bench. Brad Cunningham