In the aftermath of World War II, worries about the condition of the immensely popular forty-year-old Haskell organ suddenly skyrocketed. In 1947, 54 stops were replaced. By the following year, the instrument was still considered fragile—and weakening under heavy use by the church and outside organists and students. Though the choice pained everyone, the vestry directed the organist, Dr. H. Alexander Matthews, to severely limit other players and programs so the organ could function at full capacity for church events.

By 1949, the rector Dr. Alfred W. Price chimed in with especially sobering views. The organ, he claimed, had deteriorated to the point that its restoration would cost $35,000 and more. As I indicated earlier, the Haskell was large and complex, given its electric action and remote elements.

The administration reluctantly considered replacing the beloved instrument but searched for alternatives under Dr. Matthews’ guidance. They began with two local builders. One was Möller Organ Co. of Hagerstown, Maryland (by then builders of high-end pipe organs with a similar electro-pneumatic action). The second was Estey Organ Co.’s new Philadelphia branch that had hired one of the surviving Haskells and a technician who had helped to build St. Stephen’s instrument. Both firms proposed ways to rebuild the organ, with some peripheral work, at around $33,000. But both also involved extensive adjustments to the building and supplemental elements.

Fundraising was crucial. This was a new age. There was no Eliza Burd or Magee family to step forward at this level. The congregation was drained. It had rallied to support the church through the Crash, Depression, suburban exodus, and war—and to raise money for the life-size marble memorial to their revered earlier rector, Dr. Grammer (d. 1944), which was finally finished and installed during these very years (1948).

Gifts and pledges for the organ trickled in to about a third of the needed sum. Fundraising consequently escalated to one of the church’s more sophisticated forms: temporary investment. The vestry established a temporary Organ Fund supplied by the interest and principal of stocks purchased repeatedly for that purpose. After three years, by January 1952, they were still short of their goal but counted on a promised legacy to cover most of the difference.

The Music Committee moved quickly. In May 1952, it asked to be authorized to execute a written contract with the “Wicke’s” company to install a “rebuilt organ utilizing part of the pipes in the present organ, for the sum of $33,650.” After due diligence blessed the transaction, a revised final contract was presented for $34,250, a sum that still did not cover peripheral work.

Why Wicks? Established in 1906, this Highland, Illinois firm (named in the plural for the two founding Wick brothers who were joined by a third) had supplied many organs throughout the country over five decades. The opus number (the musical counterpart to a serial number) of St. Stephen’s instrument, No. 3296, tells us they had built that number by the date of its installation (1952). Some of the earliest (1913-1916) were in churches and synagogues in or near Philadelphia. Wicks’ own patented “Direct Electric Action” simplified the construction and maintenance of electro-pneumatic actions like the one in St. Stephen’s Haskell. It delivered wind to the pipes at any level of wind pressure with a direct electrical connection between the key and the valve, allowing for fewer moving parts or fragile leather; it offered a lighter, more compact chest for tight spaces; and it was designed for durability. The firm prospered after the war, building (to judge by the opus numbers) hundreds of organs, of comparable complexity to St. Stephen’s proposed instrument, from the late 1940s through the early 1950s. The quality of their materials and construction, of their tone, and attention to voicing in the space earned high marks. The bid might have been higher than others (depending on the packaging) but the St. Stephen’s team may have preferred their solutions and working with them despite the distance—Dr. Price praised their “splendid cooperation.”

Construction and installation (and, presumably, final fundraising) proceeded smoothly. Following last-minute substitutions and voicing, the instrument was dedicated, as with the Haskell, on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras), which in 1953 fell on February 17. This holiday had special meaning in 1953, however. St. Stephen’s was then celebrating the 130th anniversary of its consecration in February 1823. The Wicks organ was the centerpiece for the church’s public testimonial, on that occasion, about its current values and mission.

In his essay on the planning of the organ in the Dedication brochure, startlingly, Dr. Price declared a divorce from the past that we did not find in the actual process. After forty-five years, he said, Dr. Wood’s admirable organ had “finally collapsed;” even if restored at great expense, it would be only a “second-rate” instrument. The “sensible” choice was a “new” organ, designed by their own organist, to meet the church’s current high musical standards. Why this sharply pro-new rendition for its public debut?

The resulting organ, pace Dr. Price, in fact paid high tribute to past and present. It is a discriminating blend of elements from the 1907 Haskell and new components by the Wicks artisans to meet current musical standards—and the instrument’s wide-ranging use. A new detached roll-top console with draw knobs, which you see above, was built with three (vs. the Haskell’s four) manuals and pedal boards. The pipes activated by Wicks’ direct-electric action were voiced on low pressures.

Among Dr. Price’s announced specifications: “approximately 59 stops, 38 ranks with a floating echo division of 7 ranks.”

Dr. Price identified 2806 individual pipes—considerably less than the Haskell’s reported 4218 pipes—ranging in length from 6 inches to 16 feet. Like Dr. Grammer’s account of the Haskell, Dr. Price gleefully listed details to “amaze” the layman: among other marvels, the installed unit weighed 15 tons, had 3500 chest magnets, and 28 miles of copper wire.

To my delight, Scott Wick and Lynn Dermody of Wicks Organ LLC (still in Highland, Illinois) found and sent us an annotated typescript of the original specifications which I illustrate here with their permission.

Annotated specifications of the Wicks Organ

Heartfelt thanks, Scott and Lynn! Best of all, we see the old and new: the elements from the Haskell, annotated then as “old” and highlighted now in yellow for our benefit. Adding to the list of reuses, the Wicks Echo Organ adapted Haskell’s original version above the chancel.

Dr. Price extolled the “flexibility” of the organ’s new “tonal architecture” in rendering “all the best organ music, classic, modern and Romantic,” without sacrificing “for passing fads and extremes.” I trust those involved in the study of this period and the history of Wicks organs—as well as the many who have played this instrument—have much to say on the subject!

The Dedication recital showcased the organ’s range and the church’s ambitious repertory, from Bach to “brilliant” contemporary English, sacred and secular, composed and improvised. Dr. Matthews played the choral works (his own) and Dr. Robert Elmore of the Church of The Holy Trinity performed the solos.

As the grand finale, Dr. Price stated, in honor of its 130th anniversary, St. Stephen’s presented “its magnificent new Organ” to “the people of metropolitan Philadelphia.” This opening of the church doors to embrace people reveals a congregation committed to community engagement, in part through its organ. The Social Gospel in musical mode. Itself the work of various communities across time and space, this people’s organ embodied and led the way.

 What can we do, sixty-seven years later, to celebrate—even continue to fulfill—that mission?

-Suzanne Glover Lindsay, St. Stephen’s historian and curator