Paul R. Marchesano on April 22nd, 2024:
The organ is a 1906 Jesse Woodberry organ installed when the church was rebuilt after the 1904 fire. The Jesse Woodberry Company of Boston designed the new organ specifically for the Church. Not wanting to obstruct the grand stained glass window of St. Patrick preaching to the Chieftains at Tara, Woodberry designed a divided organ with pipes separated to provide a clear view of the window. According to an article in the Lowell Sun, this new organ was considered one of the finest in New England. The original cost was $11,000. The organ is of 4 parts: the Choir organ with 11 stops, the Pedal with 10 stops, the Great with 11 stops, and the Swell with 15 stops. The organ has 2,748 speaking pipes, 976 pipes on the Great, 964 on the Swell, 598 on the Choir, and 210 on the Pedal. There are also 27 pipes in the center section that are non-speaking (dummy) pipes needed to fill in the space artistically. These pipes are not included in the pipe count. Viewing from the floor, the organ’s pipes reach almost to the ceiling. We have been told it is the largest pipe organ built by Woodberry, and the largest surviving pipe organ in the City of Lowell. The instrument had been unplayable for almost twenty years. This summer Andover Organ anticipates completing the full restoration of the organ. Andover Organ’s work included upgrading the organ’s console mechanisms and electrical control systems; re-leathering and fitting the pedal wind chests with new primary magnets; building new manual chests, cleaning, repairing, and adjusting the pipes for evenness of speech and tone; and repairing and re-leathering the large reservoir in the tower area. -- Email from Ray Leavitt received 2023-05-09

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Database Manager on September 7th, 2013:
This entry describes an original installation of a new pipe organ. Identified by T. Daniel Hancock, using information found in <em>The Tracker</em>, Vol. 57, No. 2. --