In the 1860’s Chalmers Presbyterian Church, as it then was, made history by ordering the first organ in a Canadian Free Presbyterian Church. A two-manual encased organ by Hook and Hastings of Boston was installed in the rear gallery of the first Chalmers Church (on Earl Street below Sydenham) in the 1860’s. Since Presbyterians then eschewed instrumental music in their worship, the organ became the subject of prolonged litigation between Chalmers Church and the national Synod. Eventually the organ was declared illegal, but by then tastes had changed, and Presbyterians everywhere were bringing choirs and organs into their churches.

That instrument served until the congregation’s growth required the building of the present church, whose cornerstone was laid in 1889. The Hook and Hastings instrument was then moved to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Gananoque, where it is still playing. In its place a substantial two-manual tracker instrument by the Warren firm of Montréal was installed in the new church at Barrie, Clergy, and Earl Streets. That organ served until 1938.

In 1938, swayed by a powerful marketing campaign, the congregation chose to remodel the choir loft and chancel area, and to replace the pipe organ with a concert model Hammond—a new technology in 1938. The late Dr. Gordon Mylks, a member of the committee at the time, reported that within a few months they knew that they had made a mistake; but the outbreak of World War II in 1939 put organ construction on hold until the war’s end. Even then, the changes made to the building in 1938 had left almost no room for a pipe organ, and it wasn’t until the rediscovery of seventeenth-century wind-stabilizing technologies in the late 1950’s that it became possible to install an organ with its Great and Positiv divisions cantilevered from the chancel walls, above the choir.

In 1960 a gift from the Drury family enabled the church to install a small three-manual Casavant organ, designed in the then-popular neo-Baroque or American Classic style by Casavant’s tonal director at the time, the late Lawrence Phelps. With 41 ranks of pipes, and 29 speaking stops, the organ used a cramped space behind the chancel window for its Swell and Pedal divisions; the Great and Positiv faced each other from their cantilevered platforms projecting from the chancel walls. Despite serious  limitations as an instrument for accompaniment, this was a worthy organ by a fine builder, and it served effectively for two decades. From 1970 onward it has also been used as one of the principal teaching organs for Queen’s School of Music.

In 1980 certain mechanical problems with the pipework, connected in all likelihood to changes in the production and composition of the zinc which is used in many pipe alloys, led to a financial campaign and a major overhaul. At that time the cantilevered chests were raised, to improve sound egress from the singers beneath them, and the opportunity was taken to broaden the sound and increase the organ’s flexibility.

The fire of 1995 brought the organ serious damage, but also the opportunity for major renewal. The sprinkler system in the attic made fairly short work of the fire itself, but water damage to the windchests and the console was extensive. After extensive study, it was decided that a major remodelling of the choir loft, and significant changes to the organ, should be part of the reconstruction of the church.

First of all, the chancel rear wall and window were moved forward eleven feet, creating valuable space both on the second-floor level, and in MacCallum Hall at ground-floor level. This enabled all four divisions of the existing organ to be accommodated in a single large chamber above and behind the choir loft. At the same time major additions were made to the organ, using the high quality digital electronics of Classic Organs of Toronto; the Classic firm (then Artisan-Classic) also built the fine new console, with four manual dicisions and pedal, but only three manuals. The pipework and mechanisms were restored and reregulated by Frederick William Knapton and Son of Kingston. This instrument has now served for ten years, and has proven very well-suited to the demands both of the church’s worship, and of the extensive teaching programme which goes on at Chalmers.  The present stoplist of the organ follows.

CHALMERS UNITED CHURCH, KINGSTON

Organ by Casavant Frères, 1961,

With additions by F.W.Knapton & Son and Artisan-Classic Organs, 1996, 2002

 
Great
1. Gedeckt* ……………………    16  
2. Principal No. 1…………….    8
3. Principal No. 2 *…………    8  
4. Gemshorn* …………         8  
5. Bourdon………………….……    8
6. Principal* ………………………  4  
7. Octave ………………………..    4
8. Koppelflöte …………………..  4
9. Super Octave …………….…… 2
10. Mixture IV ………………….  1 1/3
11. Sharp Mixture III* ………  2/3  
12. Trumpet* …………………… . 8   
13. Clarion* ……………………….  4    
    (Stops marked * are under expression)

Swell
14. Open Diapason …………  8  
15. Rohrflöte ………………….    8
16. Viola ……………………..       8
17. Viola Celeste (low G) … 8
18. Nason Flute ….……………   4  
19. Spitzprincipal ………………  4
20. Waldflöte ………………….…..2
21. Italian Principal …………… 2
22. Cornet III ……………….…    2 2/3
23. Plein Jeu III …………….…… 2  
24. Scharff IV …………….……     2/3
25. Fagott ………………………….   16  
26. Hautboy ……………………     8  .
27. Trompette …………………    8  .
28. Clarion …………………….     4  .
       Tremulant

Positiv
29. Gedeckt ……………………    8
30. Nachthorn …………………    4
31. Principal …………………..    4


32. Gemshorn …………………    2
33. Quintflöte …………………     1 1/3
34. Sesquialtera II ……………. 2 2/3
35. Cymbal III …………………      1/4
36. Krummhorn ………………..   8  

Choir
37. Geigen Principal …………   8   
38. Stopped Diapason ………..8   
39. Dulciana ………………….       8  
40. Unda Maris ……………………..8
41. Principal …………………..      4   
42. Spitzflöte …………………..     4   
43. Nazard ……………………..      2 2/3  
44. Recorder …………………...    2   
45. Tierce………………………        1 3/5  
46. Mixture II ………………….    1 1/3  
47. Cremona …………………..    8   
48. Fanfare Trumpet …………..8   
Tremulant

Pedal
49. Contrabass ………………..    32  
50. Contrabourdon …………….  32  
51. Open Diapason (wood) …16  
52. Principal ……………………      16  
53. Subbass …………………….     16  
54. Gedeckt …………………….      16
55. Octave ……………………..        8
56. Pommer ……………………        8
57. Superoctave ……………….      4
58. Open Flute ………………… …..  4  (prep)
59. Gemshorn ………………….       2  (prep)
60. Mixture IV ………………...       2 2/3
61. Contra Posaune …………..    32  
62. Basson …………………….         16  
63. Posaune ……………………..…    16   
64. Trumpet ……………...…………     8    

Notes

Console:  Three manuals (61 notes) and Pedal (32 notes)
(The fourth manual division, the Choir, is “floating”—it plays only when coupled)
Tracker touch manual keyboards and AGO-standard pedalboard

60 nominal levels of memory (the computer actually allows several more)
8 divisional pistons each to Gt., Sw., Pos., Choir; 6 divisional pistons to Pedal.
22 General pistons (12 thumb, 10 toe)
Expression shoes to Swell, Choir, and Great stops marked * (may be altered to Crescendo),
with graduated lighted indicators.
Reversibles: all interdivisional couplers, Fanfare Trumpet mute, Reeds off, 32’ Contra Posaune, All Swells to Swell.
Registration Sequencer
Two MIDI alterables to each keyboard.  MIDI in and out. Sequencer in console drawer.