
| Our Pipe Organ | |
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The pipe organ installed in the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster, Texas, was made possible by the gifts of the H. J. Moffett and R. P. Henry families, and is the only pipe organ remaining in Lancaster. It was built by the Pilcher Sons, Inc. Organ Company of Louisville, Kentucky, and installed in 1927. Until World War II, organ manufacturing was common in the US; however, when the war began, many factories were unable to manufacture new instruments. The Pilcher factory was depleted of all metals for the production of new pipe, and what was in stock was given to the war effort. After the war, the Pilcher Organ Company never built another new organ and faded into history. The pipe organ is an electro-pneumatic instrument with two manuals (keyboards) and 14 ranks (sets) of pipes. A rank is composed of 61 pipes, giving the organ a total of 854 individual pipes. In September, 1987, the organ was disassembled, cleaned, reassembled, and tuned. Each pipe was taken out of its fitting, taken outside, hand washed, dried, brought back into the sanctuary and placed carefully inside the huge wooden structure. The organ pipes are made of different materials; some are wood, some are lead, and some are a tin and zinc compound. The variety of compositions allows for the seemingly infinite number of musical tones than can be generated. |
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