Johnson Style 125B Band Organ |
Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion
Rollag, Minnesota
History of the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion Johnson Band Organ
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The Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion (WMSTR) was organized in 1954, and since then, has annually held a living-history show at Rollag, MN, which is run by several thousand volunteers. About 60,000 spectators attend the show each year.
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One of the most popular exhibits of the show is the steam-powered carousel ("Merry-Go-Round"), complete with a Johnson Band Organ, patterned after a Wurlitzer Model 105 band organ.
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The carousel arrived at the WMSTR showgrounds in August 1983. It was donated by member Reuben Klein of Pelican Rapids, MN. It was manufactured in 1930 by the Parker Brothers of Abilene, KS. Charles Wallace Parker, who founded the company, was known as the "King of Carousels," and his manufacturing company was located across the tracks from the home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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The carousel was dismantled, brought to WMSTR and reassembled by volunteers from the show. It includes 20 hand-carved wooden horses and four chair cards each holding four persons. Following many years of continuous use on the road, the carousel was in poor condition by 1983 and the horses were covered in several layers of dark paint. Bernard Swenson of Barnesville began the restoration process of the horses. Lance Johnson, president of Johnson Organ Company, and a member of WMSTR and RRTOS, also helped with the restoration, and began building a Johnson Style 125B (a copy of a Wurlitzer 105 band organ).
The carousel was first operable in 1983 or '84, and initially, a boom box playing band organ tapes was used. The organ was first used in 1984, and upon its initial startup, the carousel became inundated with people lined up to ride. More volunteers had to be recruited to handle the crowds. In the winter of 1984, WMSTR purchased the instrument and sold 300 $50 belt buckles to fundraise for purchasing the organ.
By the late-1990s, a lean-to was built on the carousel house at WMSTR so that the organ could rest further away from carousel riders in its own designated space. This also allowed for a small work station to be built so Lance could demonstrate punching holes in to organ roll paper. Lance eventually arranged several rolls for the organ, and several other reproduction Wurlitzer rolls were used as well. An offset of several Trombone bass pipes was added, probably in the 1990s.
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The organ would have been one of the features of WMSTR's 1995 Expo, "Music Comes Alive in '95!" In 2018, there was a Homemade Equipment Expo at WMSTR and two real steam calliopes were brought in. An abandoned homemade vacuum cleaner-powered organ also resides at the show and was built around 1979 by member Silas Hilde. As of 2025, the carousel organ remains as the only functioning pipe organ at WMSTR.
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Lance's last year volunteering at WMSTR was in 2024, and in 2025, Red River Theatre Organ Society adopted the maintenance, care, and exhibiting of the instrument. RRTOS member Alex Swanson had already been a long-time member of WMSTR at that point, and around this time RRTOS members Elliot Sander, Alex Moe, and Dylan Thiele joined WMSTR as well.
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Alex M. and Dylan cleaned, repaired, and tuned the organ in the summer of 2025 and exhibited it during the 2025 show.
