SHELBURNE — In 1916, the First Congregational Church of Shelburne heard its first concert on a magnificent hand-built pipe organ, made for the church by the J.W. Steere & Son Organ Co. of Springfield.
This Sunday at 4 p.m., the First Congregational Church will celebrate the organ’s 100th anniversary with a concert that demonstrate’s the instrument’s capabilities and beloved stories from the organ’s history.
Several hymns and solos will be performed by Sarah Jean Graves and Barbara Goodchild, along with a presentation by the church choir.
“The organ is one of the first things anyone notices when walking into the church sanctuary,” said Marion Taylor. She said it has been a key component in church services, providing music for special services, weddings and funerals since it arrived.
A gift from George Elias Taylor in 1916, the organ was so large that the church building had to be expanded to fit it in. The organ contains a full standardized keyboard, including trumpet, oboe and violin stops. The organ construction includes elaborate casework, with many large, gold-bronze facade pipes.
But most important, perhaps, at the time, was the organ’s “electro-pneumatic action.” It was pumped electrically.
“The organ that preceded it had to be hand-cranked,” said Taylor. The old pump organ had been used in the church since 1872.
There have been 13 principal organists in the last century, beginning with Lila Harrington Taylor. Hazel Dole played the organ for at least 30 years, beginning in the 1930s. The current organist, Sarah Jean Graves, has been the principal organist since 1978.
There have been many guest performers, such as Carol Britt, a Louisiana organist, who played a 1915 organ opus on it last summer for 300 organists who traveled on chartered buses to hear this organ and one that has been newly restored in the Heath Union Evangelical Church.
Local performers on this instrument have included Hugh Tomes, Nancy Dole, Tony Wilcox, Judy Truesdell and Barbara Goodchild, who is musical director of the church.
One long-ago performer was a cat that managed to crawl into the organ and “participated in the concert, until it was retrieved by Ralph Blackmer,” according to Taylor.
Taylor said stories about the organ have been compiled by Joseph Judd and Judith Kulp and will be shared at this event.
The concert is free, although donations are accepted.