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Columbia Organ Works
915 Lancaster Avenue; Columbia, Pennsylvania USA 17512
Telephone: (717) 684-3573 Fax: (717) 684-4428
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Columbia Organ Works915 Lancaster Avenue; Columbia, Pennsylvania USA 17512 Telephone: (717) 684-3573 Fax: (717) 684-4428
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The 1847 Henry Knauff restored and installed in Marietta Pennsylvania's Union Meeting House in 2008
The pipe organ installed in Marietta’s Union Meeting House was built by Henry Knauff of Philadelphia in 1847. The firm is known to have existed from 1837 until 1893. It is not known for whom the organ was originally constructed but it was obtained by the donor’s from a closed African Methodist Episcopal Church in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania in 1997. This is not thought to have been its original home. All of the organ’s mechanism casework and some of the pipework were found to be intact but desperately in need of restoration. Over a period of years, the organ was slowly restored under the guidance of Larry Pruett and William Duck with the assistance of some of the employees of Columbia Organ Works in Columbia, Pennsylvania, most notably, Harold Ulmer. The mechanism and leather covered bellows were restored and the missing pipes were carefully replicated and voiced to match the originals. The lovely case that houses the instrument is made of poplar and it retains its original hand grained paint finish. The pipes in the façade are made of wood and have been refinished with bronze powder paint. The organ consists of one manual with a 54 note compass and contains 258 individual speaking pipes. This instrument is one of just a handful of Knauff’s organs known to exist today. It would very likely have been built for a building similar in size to the Union Meeting House. Listening to this instrument will transport us back more than 160 years to the sounds that inspired much of the music that was written during that period. This organ has been donated to Marietta Restoration Associates by William Duck III and Darlene and Larry Pruett with the specific intention that it shall remain in the Union Meeting House and be used as often as possible. Installation, assembly and tuning and regulation of the organ will be given by the donors and the employees of Columbia Organ Works.
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Send mail to
larry@columbiaorgan.com
with
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