FORMER
3/8 Sioux Falls Wurlitzer

History of the First Lutheran Church of Sioux Falls Wurlitzer Organ

 

Opus 2127 was sold by Wurlitzer to First Lutheran Church of Sioux Falls, SD in 1930. It was a 3/8 size and had no traps or percussions, and ran on lower wind pressure than their regular theatre organs. The console was a gothic-style carved church model offered by Wurlitzer.

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In 1975, the entire organ was purchased by the Red River Theatre Organ Society and it was to be installed in a cultural arts center in Fargo, which ultimately fell through. An attempt to install it at Moorhead High School also never came to fruition. The organ then remained in storage.

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After the chapter's 2/7 Style E Wurlitzer at the Fargo Theatre was given additions of a Bombarde Trumpet and an English Post Horn, the RRTOS found it desirable to upgrade to a 3-manual console. In early 1979, the Sioux Falls console was refinished with a smooth black case (ala Radio City Music Hall), and by March 1979 it was installed at the Fargo Theatre. By 1986 the instrument had been expanded to 15 ranks.

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It is not entirely known what became of the 8 ranks that originally came with the Sioux Falls organ (some may have been used at the Fargo Theatre), but the console was used at the Fargo Theatre until 1999 when a final upgrade to the present 4-manual console was made. Terry Kleven of Century Pipe Organ in Minneapolis, MN, purchased the Sioux Falls Console around 1999 and with that sale came the end of the Sioux Falls instrument in RRTOS's history.

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A few photos of the altered Sioux Falls console when it was in use at the Fargo Theatre can be seen in the gallery below.