St. James was built in the years around 1925-27. There are early photos of the chancel before pews or permanent furnishings were in place; these photos show what was probably a reed organ occupying what is now the organ chamber. A Pilcher pipe-organ from Kentucky was the first instrument, and it served until about 1963. There are letters of correspondence in our archives from church officials to the Pilcher company concerning multiple problems. The organ was probably damaged from extremely dry air due to the location of the blower next to the boiler room. The organ was highly romantic in style, and highly unified, in terms of organ-building. There was a small two-rank antiphonal divisional in the Holy Innocents’ Chapel playable from the main console in the church, which was a three manual console! It was a grand vision, indeed.

Again in our archives, there are letters reflecting an almost exhaustive search during 1962-63 for a new pipe organ. Proposals came from Aeolian-Skinner, Casavant and many others. The choice of a neo-baroque Holtkamp was radical at the time for an Episcopal Church with a tradition of choral music and fine organ accompaniments. However, in the 1960s the revival of baroque music was strong and these instruments were all the rage. Fortunately, this instrument is of excellent tonal design and scaling. The church is finished in stone and wood entirely, and the organ sounds beautiful. Admittedly, most organists when first seeing the specification invariably ask, “How on earth do you accompany anthems?” I’ll leave the answer up to those who understand such things. This is a lovely instrument built with limitations that are artistic in-and-of themselves. - David Cason, June 2010.

Holtkamp Organ
1964 Walter Holtkamp, Jr.

1967 Reuter - Addition of Gemshorn and Celeste, unified at 8’ and 4’ on manuals and pedal, addition of Pedal Octave 8’ replacing Bourdon, addition of Crescendo Pedal, Sforzando piston, and toe pistons to mirror general pistons and manual to pedal couplers.

2007 Burton Tidwell - New console (except shell and pedal-board) and control system with tonal re-voicing of Reuter Gemshorn into Spitzgamba, and replacement of Gemshorn Celeste with vintage Dulciana.

Note of interest - Though not in use, we retained the original Holtkamp ‘switch matrix’ combination setters which will be eventually mounted for posterity in the organ chamber or in the organ blower room!