Organ

In November 1997, Old Pine church made the decision to purchase an historic J. W. Steere Pipe Organ to replace the ailing electronic organ then in use.

The J. W. Steere and Sons Opus #344 Pipe Organ was originally built and installed in 1892 for the Unitarian Universalist Church located in Elgin, Illinois and was purchased by Mr. Robert B. Whiting in 1992. Mr. Whiting was an organ enthusiast who had collected some fifty historic organs over his lifetime. One of his attractions to the J. W. Steere Pipe Organ was to save this significant example of 19th century American Organ construction. The instrument was completely overhauled and installed in his studio in 1992. Mr. Whiting considered this his favorite of all the historic organs he had purchased over the years, due to its unusually rich and beautiful tone. After Mr. Whiting's death, the instrument went up for auction and was purchased by Patrick Murphy, who did the renovation work. The organ was installed at Old Pine during the summer of 1998.

The historic aspect is also worthy of note, since it is an organ of similar quality of what would have been present at Old Pine in the nineteenth century. One of the unique features of the Steere is the fact that the majority of the pipes are enclosed in a swell box. This means that by the manipulation of a foot device, most of the organ can be made to sound distant and quiet. This is particularly useful for anthem accompaniment and tonal balance in intimate buildings such as the Old Pine sanctuary.

The stoplist is extremely well balanced and complete with ample fundamental tone in the Pedal 16's and the 88's in the manuals. There are contrasting flute stops at different pitch levels on both manuals. String stops on both the manuals add a keen color well suited for romantic literature and an addition of a sparkling mixture stop adds flexibility to the instrument for brilliance and the ability to play the music of the Baroque period (i.e. Bach). In the Swell is a beautiful oboe stop and on the Great a brassy and bold Trumpet especially useful for bridal processions as well as to add some kick to the full organ.