Organ restoration

Greg Koziel, an organ builder from Memphis, assesses the organ console at St. Edward Church in Little Rock July 31. (Courtesy St. Edward Church)

St. Edward Church in Little Rock has completed its 116-year-old pipe organ restoration this month.

In 1908, a pipe organ was installed in the church by the W.W. Kimball Company. At the time, it was considered one of the best in the Southwest United States. An organ concert was given for the rededication of the newly renovated church in 1911 by Edwin Henry Lemare from New York City. Lemare is still known as one of the most prolific composers of the late Romantic period.

In 1964, the organ suffered from fire and water damage during a church fire and remained unplayable until 1987, when the Nichols and Simpson Company was hired to restore it. Money was raised in three stages for $430,000. At that time, there were not enough funds to buy the nine stops needed to complete the organ.

Recently two parishioners bought the remaining stops for $85,000. These stops have added color and richness of oboes, trumpets, bassoons, flutes and violins to the organ as it was originally intended. The current value of the instrument exceeds $1 million.

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