Blooming Grove United Church of Christ 8 Old Dominion Road Blooming Grove, NY 10914 Specification prepared by Joseph Bertolozzi January, 2010 Photography and other information supplied by Jan Kohler Hook & Hastings, 1901, Op. 1937, II/14 Two manuals of 61 notes Pedalboard of 27 notes Tracker action 824 pipes originally, now 836; see Swell Oboe/Bassoon The manual keys are ivory-covered, pedal keys of walnut and maple. The casework is quarter-sawn white oak, with mahogany stop jambs and key cheeks. GREAT (right jamb) Open Diapason 8' Melodia 8 Dulciana 8' Principal 4' Fifteenth 2 SWELL (left jamb) Open Diapason 8' Salicional 8 Voix Celeste 8 Stop d Diapason 8' Gemshorn 4 Flute Harmonique 4' Oboe/Bassoon 8' Tremolo NOTE : The Oboe/Bassoon is taken from the Hook & Hastings Opus 1935, replacing the original Opus 1937 T.C. Oboe. It was added in the spring of 1980 or 1981 by the A & J Pipe and Reed Organ Company of Newburgh, NY. Robert Seely of Circleville, NY made the mechanism for the Bassoon slider to open and close, with a minimum of movement, less than 1.5 inches. PEDAL Bourdon 16' Violoncello 8' Expression: Balanced Swell Pedal MECHANICALS COUPLERS Swell to Great Swell to Pedal Great to Pedal Gt. to Ped. Reversible REGISTRATIONAL FOOT LEVERS Gt. Piano Gt. Forte
Left Jamb stop knob, top row Swell division Open Diapason 8', Salicional 8, Voix Celeste 8 Stop d Diapason 8' Right Jamb stop knob, top row Great division Fifteenth 2, Principal 4', Melodia 8, Dulciana 8' Left Jamb stop knob, middle row Swell division Oboe 8, Bassoon 8, Gemshorn 4, Flute Harmonique 4 Right Jamb stop knob, middle row Great division Open Diapason 8' Left Jamb stop knobs, bottom row Pedal division & pedal couplers Right Jamb stop knobs, bottom row Manual coupler and tremolo
SOME ORGAN AND CHURCH HISTORY Sanctuary from around 1890 (organ installed in 1902) Sanctuary from 2006 The following history is condensed from the church s website as well as a concert program provided by Jan Kohler from their 250 th anniversary celebration featuring West Point organist Craig Williams, a 1980 account appearing in the local newspapers by Phyllis Hunter, a member of the church, and The Whistlebox, the newsletter of the Mid Hudson Chapter of the Organ Historical Society, Vol. III, No. 1, January 1981. In 1902 church member and the railroad magnate David Moffat Jr. presented a pipe organ to the Blooming Grove church in memory of his father, the long-time choirmaster who in his time used a tuning fork to obtain the proper pitch. Before Moffat s gift, the congregation also used a reed organ built by the Mason & Hamlin Organ Company of Boston. The donation aroused substantial controversy because to accommodate the pipe organ, the pulpit platform was moved forward and the choir balcony was removed. One member took the matter to court because his pew would have to be dismantled (In the fashion of the time, each pew was bought by and individual or a family, making each pew owner a partial owner of the church with a title to the pew). He later withdrew the lawsuit. The sanctuary today retains many of its original features despite the renovation to accommodate the pipe organ in 1902. When the church building was built in 1823 slavery was still legal in New York, and the building committee directed the builders to include galleries to either side of the pulpit for slaves and other people of color; the center section with the railing was for the choir. The segregated seating, or "slave galleries," long since disused, remained to either side.
The "slave gallery" to the right of the pulpit. The Blooming Grove United Church of Christ began around 1758 as a Presbyterian church. In 1758 the church purchased a tract of land and built its first meetinghouse in 1759. The approximate site of the first meetinghouse is known but nothing remains of the building except for some fragments of interior woodwork. In 1823 the church had grown to the point that it needed a new building. Rather than enlarge the existing meetinghouse the congregation sold the original building which was torn down, and erected the present building. An early photograph of the church ca. 1870 showing the horse sheds to the left.
A LIST OF THE ORGANISTS OF THE BLOOMING GROVE CHURCH 1903 (Mrs.) Rogers ca. 1903-1915 Unknown ca. 1915-1938 Jane Durland Sears ca. 1938-1940 Janet Bate 1940-1982 Clara Johnson 1983 Alan Carrick 1983-1985 Jeffrey Stein 1985-1987 Marian Wheeler 1988 Jeffrey Stein 1988 Janet Steeves 1989-1996 Linda Bierling 1996 Bernice Fowler 1996-present Janiece Kohler A LIST OF THOSE WHO PUMPED THE ORGAN DOESN T EXIST! Organ hand pump handle