In 1959, as a new sanctuary was being built for Peace Lutheran Church, the church organist, Mr. William Heefner, found a magnificent three manual instrument. Originally this organ (opus  #528) had been built for the Keneseth Israel Congregation in Philadelphia by Frank Roosevelt of New York - a giant among the organ builders of his time.

    S.H. Barrington, organ builder, and William Heefner heard that the Roosevelt organ was for sale. They traveled to Philadelphia to examine the organ, and recognized the importance of the instrument. when it was dedicated in Philadelphia in 1892, it: occupied a space twenty-four feet wide, fourteen feet deep and twenty-eight feet high. The notes claim to have been the first time that tubular pneumatics, in view of trackers, were used in such a comprehensive manner. The bellows were fed or blown by a rotary water motor on low water pressure of twenty four pounds. The water valve was automatically controlled by the rise and fall of the bellows so that the speed of the engine was regulated by the demands made for wind and "no water wasted".

    Since its installation in Keneseth Israel, renovations had occurred to the instrument. The organ was electrified, the old draw knob console was replaced, and chimes and harp were added to the choir organ. The organ was in this condition when William Heefner first saw it. Grace Horn offered to donate $3000 to finance the organ and the church decided to proceed with its acquisition.

     S. H. Barrington of Norristown was contracted to install, redesign and modernize certain aspects of the instrument. The complex process began with the dismantling and moving of the components. Approximately twenty men from the congregation brought 14 trucks to carefully pack the organ parts and transport than to the church. The components were stored in buildings provided by the members.

    Fifty-two hundred pneumatics were either re-leathered or replaced. Robert Hudak, Harvey Sterner, Harold Lewis and Herbert Lewis made many parts in their shops. Barrington actually commented that he had worked in many churches, but "had never seen anything to beat the spirit shown by the members here."

    William Heefner continued through the years to serve as organist and choir director for the church. Heefner graduated from Ursinus College in 1942 and received a law degree from Temple University in 1949. In addition to his work with the church, Mr. Heefner practiced law at offices in Doylestown and Morrisville. He was president of the Board of Directors at Ursinus College where he received an honorary LL.D. degree in 1975, and where he endowed the William F. Heefner chair in Music. Over the years he has promoted numerous musical events at Peace Church including famed organist, Virgil Fox, who perform there three times. Other performers of note included Claribel Thomson, Eugene Roan, Wilma Jensen and Alan Morrison. Mr. Heefner retired after serving 55 years as organist at Peace.

    Improvements continue to be made to the organ which today consists of sixty-five ranks, six divisions all played from a four manual organ console. It is under the care of Brantley Duddy of Cedars, Pennsylvania.

     Our current organist is Herman Slozer.

The History of Peace-Tohickon Lutheran Church was researched and written in 1992 by Susan Wombwell Clemens in conjunction with Peace-Tohickon's 250th anniversary

Peace-Tohickon Founded 1743

 

 

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