First Reformed Church
301 Washington Ave.
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Description
The organ is a Moller Opus 8416 three manual organ with 34 stops and 22 ranks, installed in 1952. Other than maintenance and some replacement of cracking drawknobs and tablets, the organ has remained as it was installed, a testimony to the reliability of Moller Organs. The Great, Choir and Pedal are located behind the main facade, which remains from a previous organ. The swell is located in a second chamber above a door to the right of the chancel, again behind an earlier facade. The console is at the right of the chancel at the level of the nave. The major ranks of this organ all contain 73 pipes to allow a full keyboard compass when the octave coupler was active.
History
The history of organs at First Reformed is dominated by church fires. The first organ for which we have information was a Hook and Hastings, Opus 1826, installed in 1899. The sanctuary burned in 1907, and a new sanctuary was built. The new organ was Moller Opus 842, installed in 1908 with exposed, decorated facade pipes at the front of the sanctuary. However this building was also destroyed by fire only a few years later in 1913 by an electrical fault in a switchboard behind the organ. The present sanctuary was constructed and an organ from Hinners Organ Company was installed in 1914. The Hinners organ was replaced by the present Moller in 1952, with the new organ installed behind the Hinners facade.
For more information on the Moller Organ company see here.
Hinners was established in 1897 in Pekin, Ill. to manufacture reed organ. John L. Hinners began building pipe organs in 1890, primarily for German speaking congregations in the midwest. He emphasised standard or stock models at a cost of about $100 per rank, that could be ordered from a catalog. He employed no sales force, and designed the organs so they could be installed and maintained by local craftsmen. There was some variety to the organ cases, and some could be quite elaborate. Hinners build over 3000 organs, but the exact number is uncertain since he did not always employ sequential opus numbers. Hinners reached its peak in 1912 and had ceased operation by 1936. There were many Hinners organs at one time in southwestern Michigan, particularly in the more rural Reformed and Christian Reformed churches.
Photo Gallery
Please click on any image to bring up a larger version in a slideshow
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- Console
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- View of the Chancel from the Nave. Note the two organ chambers
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- Main organ chamber dates to an earlier Hinners organ
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- Second Organ chamber for the Swell division
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- Nave and stained glass windows.
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- Nameplate
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- First Reformed Church, Grand Have
Stoplist
Great
Diapason 8′
Bourdon 8′
Dulciana 8′ [CH]
Octave 4′
Flute Couverte 4′ {12}
Grave Mixture II
Tremulant
Chimes
Choir
Geigen Diapason 8′
Spitzflote 8′
Dulciana 8′
Unda Maris {TC}
Nachthorn 4′
Nazard 2 2/3′
Flautino 2”
Clarinet 8′
Tremulant
Swell
Rohrflute 8′
Viole de Gambe 8′
Viole Celeste 8′ {TC}
Principal 4′
Flute D’Amour 4′ {12}
Trumpet 8′
Oboe 8′
Vox Humana 8′ (prepared)
Clarion 4′ {12}
Tremulant
Pedal
Subbass 16′
Spitzflote 16′ {12} [CH]
Rohrbourdon 16′ {12} [SW]
Quint 10 2/3′
Octave 8′
Spitzflute 8′ [CH]
Rorhrgedackt 8′ [SW]
Super Octave 4′ {12}
Rohrflote 4′ [SW]
