Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 184
Scan 184
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
23 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 158. See the scan on archive.org.
14. SOME IMPORTANT ORGAN BUILDERS OUT OF BUSINESS
3The important companies out of business about which a fair amount of information was obtainable, namely—James Cole, George S. Hutchings, Simmons & Willcox (W. B. D. Simmons) and Jesse Woodberry—are discussed here. Whatever information the writer has been able to obtain about other early pipe organ manufacturers is presented in Appendix III.
5SIMMONS & WILLCOX (W. B. D. SIMMONS & CO., ALSO SIMMONS & MCINTIRE; AND SIMMONS & FISHER)
7In 1845 this company was Simmons & McIntire located on [address hidden]. By 1850 the firm name was changed to W. B. D. Simmons & Co. In 1855 it became Simmons & Fisher, moved May first to [address hidden] corner of Cambridge and advertised that it made organs ranging in price from $600 to $12,000.¹ Mr. Willcox was associated with the company then, and for 1858-59 the name was changed to Simmons & Willcox. By 1860 Mr. Willcox had apparently left, for the company, located at [address hidden], was again W. B. D. Simmons & Co., which name it retained until it went out of business about 1877. In 1869-70 it was located at [address hidden] cor. Cambridge; after that it was at Charles corner of [address hidden]
9While this company was in existence it built some of the finest organs of that period, notably those located in:
11ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, Troy, New York,
12built in 1853. This was "a first class instrument with 39 registers, arranged, 14 in the Great organ, 8 in the Choir organ, and 12 in the Swell organ, and 5 couplers."²
14CITADEL SQUARE CHURCH, Charleston, South Carolina,
15built in 1856 by Simmons & Fisher. "It was the largest organ yet built in the country."³
17DR. ALEXANDER'S CHURCH, New York City,
18built in 1856, 3 manuals and 35 stops.
20¹ Dwight's Journal of Music Vol. 8, November 3, 1855 p. 40.
21² Ibid Vol. 7, May 5, 1855 p. 38.
22³ Ibid Vol. 9, September 27, 1856 p. 205.
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