Database Manager on May 7th, 2017:
Posted to PIPORG-L October 16, 2010 by Kenneth Potter: -- "The church was built by a grand daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Mrs Eliot Fitch Shepard. She paid for the church and organ in its entirety. It was the first electrically controlled slider organ in Westchester County. The console was originally in the chancel with a double paid quartet, and the pipes in the rear gallery. It didn't take long to figure out that this didn't work very well and the console and singers moved to the gallery.<br><br>In its 115 year history the organ was altered on a few occasions. In the 1960s it received a floating Positiv, basically to take the place of a swell division that was pretty much defunct. It contained stops that were not in keeping with the late 19th century style of building. <br><br>Ed Odell's firm hoisted the entire instrument out of the gallery and shipped it off to their shop in Connecticut. We agonized over the stoplist for a long time and finally came up with something that returns it to the sound of the original instrument as far as possible. We also reduced the size of the instrument from 37 ranks to 30 ranks. Changes which we did feel were to the benefit of the organ were things like replacing a Vox Humana with a Clairon 4', which we felt was needed to complete the "batterie," and the replacement of the Aeoline with an independent oboe 8'. Only one new rank of pipes was added: a tierce 1 3/5 to complete the great cornet. Previously the tierce was borrowed off a unison stop on the Positiv to bad effect. The organ remains on its original slider chests which were completely restored.

---

Database Manager on March 12th, 2012:
Updated through online information from James R. Stettner. -- Listed on an Odell booklet as Opus 327, 1894 for the Memorial Church in Scarboro [sic], New York - having 2-manuals and 26 stops.