Geo. H. Ryder
Opus No. 76, 1883

Transplanted note from a duplicate OHS Database entry: Database Manager on June 16, 2005: Identified through information in Descriptive Catalogue of Superior Church Organs Manufactured by Geo. H. Ryder & Co., published in Boston, January, 1896. Dates are not included in the publication; the one given here is conjectural.

Seth Dexter was the chief engineer of the Windsor Locks canal, (which bypassed a great section of rapids which previously stopped freight traffic from travelling any further up the Connecticut River without portage), and which made him a wealthy man. Edwin Douglas was the "onsite engineer" during the construction of the Windsor Locks canal. Seth gave his daughter, Harriet, a five acre tract of land on Main Street. It was called Ash Meadow because of the beautiful Ash trees on the property. Edwin and Harriet had a magnificent house built on that property in about 1848. The estate came to be known as "Ashmere" which was reputedly the largest estate ever constructed in Windsor Locks.

The residents of Ashmere when the Ryder organ was purchased was Arthur Dexter Coffin.

After Edwin left to build another canal in Pennsylvania, his children founded the Dexter Paper Factory which operated into the 1960s. Members of the Coffin family married into the paper mill side of the Dexter family and continued the management of the mill until it closed, all owners living in the historic home.

In 1952, Dexter and Betty Coffin were still living in Ashmere. Mr. Coffin, who sat on the Library Board, was ready to retire, and to move elsewhere. He offered the Ashmere and its five acres to the Library Board to serve as the Windsor Locks Public Library. The Library Board declined his offer, so he sold the Ashmere to local businessmen. They turned it into an Inn, which closed after seven years of operation. The Ashmere was then purchased by a New York company as the site for Dexter Plaza, and the building was demolished in 1960.

The organ was given to the Grace Episcopal Church in the neighboring town of Broad Brook where it was installed in the rear gallery without alteration. The organ was later relocated by the Organ Clearing House to the Congregational Church of Hebron, Conn. where it has existed in an altered state until now. That church was recently acquired by a Pentecostal congregation who intends to junk the organ immediately (as of 6/10/2021).

The organ showed evidence of either a discerning buyer or consultant: all stops were full compass and the two-stop pedal division of 30-notes being ahead of their time for an organ this small.