Dedicated on April 5, 1937, the Kilgen pipe organ was moved from the original church location at Liberty Street and Goodwin Avenue to the new church building on North Navarro Street around 1966. The organ was then updated some time in the late 1970’s with the addition of a new 8’ Trumpet to the Swell and an 8’ Principal, 2 2/3’ Quint, and 3-rank Mixture to the Great. A new Klann console and Reisner “gang” switch relay was also installed. On April 18, 2005, Tom Murrah, Clerk of the Session, signed a contract with Russell Franklin of Franklin Pipe Organs for the renovation of the organ that would incorporate the existing pipes with a new Ahlborn-Galanti AG3200 console and a new pipe organ MIDI interfaced relay.

All 957 pipes of the organ were carefully taken out and stored while chests were rearranged, modified and re-winded. The Swell 8’ Trumpet was cleaned, re-voiced, and moved to the Great as the 8’ Harmonic Trumpet. The 2 2/3’ Quint was added permanently to the Mixture and relocated to the first level of the Great Chamber for better tuning purposes. The Great 8’ Dulciana was revoiced as an 8’ Violoncello, which was what the pipes were originally inscribed to be, with the Pedal 16’ Violone pipes as their bottom octave, also reflecting their original inscription.

A bottom octave of string pipes that had previously never been connected were moved to the Swell and added to the present 8’ Celeste that had always started at Tenor C. Now complete in the Swell, these strings were re-voiced to become the Viole de Gambe and its Voix Celeste partner. Flutes in both the Great and the Swell were revoiced for maximum “chiff” and are playable at the 8’ and 2’ pitches.

A sophisticated arrangement of amplifiers and speaker cabinets were installed in the chambers to accommodate the digital pipe sound generated by the Ahlborn-Galanti AG3200. Russell then voiced each digital stop to best match the level, scaling, pitch, and harmonics of the wind blown pipes.

The final ‘real’ features of the organ are the original set of chimes, which were in the Great Chamber, but are now re-hung and located on the back wall of the Balcony, and the original 9-bell Zimbelstern that still resides behind the arms of the large cross at the front of the church. Not wishing to run wires from the front of the church to the Balcony, the Chimes are driven by way of wireless remote control.

GREAT

SWELL

CHOIR/POS

PEDAL

Montre 16

Bourdon Doux 16

Quintaton 16

Untersatz 32

Principal 8

Geigen Principal 8

Prinzipal 8

Contre Violone 32

Open Diapason 8

Flute 8

Gedackt 8

Principal 16

Bourdon 8

Viole de Gambe 8

Gemshorn 8

Sub Bass 16

Flute Harmonique 8

Voix Celeste 8

Gemshorn Celeste 8

Violone 16

Violoncello 8

Flute Celeste II

Spitz Oktav 4

Octave 8

Octave 4

Prestant 4

Koppel Flute 4

Bass Flute 8

Flute Conique 4

Orchestral Flute 4

Nazard 2 2/3

Choral Bass 4

Super Octave 2

Octavin 2

Block Flute 2

Nachthorn 4

Flute a Bec 2

Plein Jeu IV

Tierce 1 3/5

Mixture V

Larigot 1 1/3

Acuta III

Scharf III

Contre Bombarde 32

Fourniture V

Double Trumpet 16

Clarinet 8

Bombarde 16

Cymbale IV

Trompette 8

English Horn 8

Fagotto 16

Harmonic Trumpet 8

Oboe 8

Festival Trumpet 8

Trompette 8

Additional Stop Great

Chalumeau 4

Additional Stop Choir

Clairon 4

Tremulant

Additional Stop Swell

Tremulant

Additional Stop Pedal

(512 pipes = 8.4 ranks)

Tremulant

(all digital - no pipes)

(36 pipes = 1.1 ranks)

(268 pipes = 4.4 ranks)