Published: October 25, 2009 11:58 pm         

About 160 pack pews of Allen Chapel as 104-year-old pipe organ plays for first time in decades

TERRE HAUTE — Sunlight shone through stained glass windows, onto brightly waxed hardwood floors, as a 104-year-old pipe organ played “Amazing Grace” for the first time in three decades.

About 160 people packed into the Allen Chapel AME Church at Third and Crawford streets Sunday afternoon, as the Organ Historical Society presented a citation in honor of the only known Verney Pipe Organ remaining in its original home.

Keith Williams, a service director for Champaign-based John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, recounted the amount of dirt and dust inside the organ when he first began work on restoring it this summer. The organ has been silent more than 30 years due to disrepair, he and others in attendance said.

“I’ve been an organist since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” he said, adding that he’s been an organ builder about 30 years.

Not much is known about Mike Verney, Williams said in between playing sets upon the namesake instrument.

Verney learned the craft of organ building in Pekin, Ill., before launching his own enterprise, the Verney Pipe Organ Co., established in 1900 and incorporated in 1904. By 1910, his company seems to have disappeared, and the master builder apparently went back to work for other people, Williams said.

But his organs remained and, it would seem, were quite well-built, Williams said, noting that the one in Allen Chapel was most likely born in 1905.

Only two other Verney organs remain in existence, he said. One is in storage in Minnesota and the other has been moved three times. Allen Chapel’s is the only known organ still in its original home.

Joy Sacopulos, president of the Friends of Historic Allen Chapel, said the history of the organ alone would qualify the building as a landmark. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 for, among numerous reasons, its usage as a station on the Underground Railroad before and during the Civil War. It was also the first black church in Terre Haute and doubled as a school in the days of segregation. The bell from Vigo County’s first courthouse hangs in its tower, she added.

“And if we didn’t have any of those reasons, the organ itself would be a reason,” she remarked on the historical significance of the church, calling Williams a “hero” for returning it to working order.

The organ contains three ranks of 198 pipes, and those in attendance sang along as it played familiar hymns and songs as it had in the previous century.

The Historic Allen Chapel restoration plan is now in its sixth of seven phases, as the installation of a chairlift and shaft is under way. The final phase will include more interior repair and restoration.

Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.