Wesley UMC - History - The Wesley Pipe Organ

Centenary Church was the first church in the City of Minneapolis to have a pipe organ. So, it was only natural that when the new church was built, it would have a pipe organ. When Wesley Church was built in 1891, a tracker action organ built by the Bergstrom Organ Company of San Francisco was installed. Evidence points to the notion that this instrument may have been an eletro-pneumatic system. If this is true, then it would have been a very early example of the use of electricity to provide the wind and operate the pipes. The present-day instrument has tonally evolved from this tracker organ. The large facade of the present instrument was part of this first organ.

As Wesley Church grew, so did its music program and it became apparent that the old instrument, which was still serving the congregation was not adequate for the rapidly growing church. Early in 1921, the church entered into contract with the Estey Organ Company of Vermont, to rebuild the instrument with the specifics that the original facade and exceptional pipe work would be retained.

In 1969, Thomas Pilson and John Leonardson or the Associated Pipe Organ Builders examined the instrument and, realizing its historical significance, embarked upon the long and difficult project of restoring its chestwork and rebuilding the instrument to the 1922 specification. Some original pipework is missing, but in the main, the instrument sounds much the same as when it was built by Estey in 1922.

Several speaking stops from the original tracker instrument still remain. They are the Great Violone 16' and the Open Diapason 8', the Swell Principal 4', the Choir Geigen 8', and the Pedal Open Diapason and Bourdon 16'. Also, the original tracker had only a thirty-note pedal-board. To this day, the pedal remains thirty-note.

[Return to History Index]

Biography Sources: History of Wesley Church, The First 125 Years, Wesley United Methodist Church, 1977.
and the Wesley Archives