Felgemaker Organ Company
The Felgemaker Organ Company was a manufacturer of pipe organs based out of Erie, Pennsylvania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
It was founded in Buffalo, New York but relocated to Erie, PA. In 1872, the company was known as the Derrick and Felgemaker Pipe Organ Company. During the 1870s, the company employed over 55 workers and had $75,000 worth of capital. The firm produced between 15 and 20 organs per week(citation needed). Specialties of the company included church organs and portable pipe organs for small churches, schools and residential parlors. By 1878 the company was renamed as the A.B. Felgemaker Company, relocating the factory to larger facilities in 1888 and 1890.
At the invitation of Mr. Felgemaker, German organ maker Anton Gottfried moved to Erie in 1894, where he leased space from the Felgemaker plant. The A.B. Felgemaker Company remained in business until 1917. Several workers from the Felgemaker Company, including Gottfried, joined to form the Organ Supply Industries, Inc. in Erie which is today North America's largest and most comprehensive pipe organ manufacturer and supply house. The company produced organs until 1918, when it ceased operations. The company's service agreements and pending contracts were then assumed by the Tellers-Kent Organ Company.
Organs produced by this company are still in use at Lawrence University, Appleton Wisconsin, St. John's Lutheran Church, Erie, Pennsylvania, Crawford Memorial United Methodist Church, Bronx, New York, Trinity Episcopal Church, Iowa City, Iowa, St. John's Episcopal Church, Canandaigua, New York, First Congregational Church, St. Johns, Michigan, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Sacred Heart Music Center, Duluth, Minnesota, Spencerport United Methodist Church, Spencerport, New York, and Prince of Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bangor, Pennsylvania.
Capitol Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church in Washington, DC maintains one of the original Felgemaker pipe organs, produced before 1917. Two still exist in Buffalo at the former St. Agnes RC Church (relocated from Sacred Heart RC in Buffalo) and Emmanual Temple SDA, originally St. Stephen's Evangelical.
Emmanuel Catholic Church in Dayton, Ohio originally dedicated its three-division Felgemaker pipe organ in 1887. Since then, the organ has undergone multiple major renovations and additions, most recently in 2015. Formal re-dedication of the Emmanuel Felgemaker organ is scheduled for November 11, 2016.
Freemasons'Hall in Indianapolis has 6 matching Felgamaker Pipe Organs installed in 1908. They are all in unrestored, playable condition.