Project 48

The Hilborne L. Roosevelt Organ (No. 32) is a beautiful 5 rank mechanical action organ with one manual and pedals. Built in 1879, the Roosevelt Opus List Catalog shows that No. 32 was “For Renting.”

It apparently spent approximately six years fulfilling that role before being purchased by the First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, for $1,000 in 1885. In 1902, the church purchased a new organ from Adam Stein (of Baltimore). The total cost for the new instrument was $3,000, and as part of the agreement, Mr. Stien was to take the Roosevelt organ as part of the payment for the new one. Before the Roosevelt organ could be removed, a member of the congregation purchased it from Mr. Stien and then donated the organ to the Church. It was moved to the Lecture Room.

Years later the Church purchased a piano for the Lecutre Room, the organ was sold to the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Charlottesville. The organ was installed there in 1892 and—according to church records—its “melodious sound and aesthetic beauty […} was enjoyed for years.” During the 1970’s the church purchased a new organ.

The Roosevelt No. 32 then ended up at the New Salem Baptist Church in Syracuse, NY, from which Parsons purchased the instrument from in 2000. The instrument at the time was in disrepair and in need of restoration.

Parsons finished the restoration of this organ in 2018. In 2019 the organ was given a new home at the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, New York City.