Tonawanda, New York, 1961-1968; Nashville area, Tennessee , from 1968.
Classification: Undetermined
From the OHS Database Builders Listing editor, November 19, 2016. -
Dennis P. Milnar was born in Buffalo, New York in 1943. He is the husband of Connie Milnar, father of Derek, Lorrie, Jeff, Todd, and Greg Milnar,and grandfather of Ryan Milnar.
He apprenticed with the Delaware Organ Co. of Tonawanda, New York, 1961-1968, where he learned the craft of servicing and repairing tracker organs as well as construction of electric action instruments. He relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 1968 where he and his wife, Connie, established their own service firm, Milnar Organ Co. The firm represented the Delaware Organ Co. in sales, installation and tonal finishing. They installed five Delaware organs with the help of consultant Thomas Webber.
In 1981, the Milnar firm transitioned from service firm to organbuilder with the construction of their first all-new instrument, a two manual, electrical action instrument for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Milnar returned in 2002 to relocate and enlarge this organ when the congregation moved to a new worship space. The firm's largest all-new organ built to date is the three-manual, fifty-rank instrument for the First United Methodist Church of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
As of 2016, Milnar is transitioning into retirement with his sons taking on more of the business operation. He sums up his career: "I have always loved organ building and have never considered it work!"
Source(s):
See main entry: Milnar Organ.
We received the most recent update for this note from Database Manager on April 09, 2020.From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North America Organ Builders by David H. Fox (Organ Historical Society, revised ed. 1997). -
Service representative of the Aeolian-Skinner firm of Boston, Massachusetts, in Nashville, Tennessee, by 1972; representative of the Delaware Organ Co. of Tonawanda, New York, by 1975; with Milnar Organ Co. of Eagleville, Tennessee, by 1985; active 1996.
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