Carl Barckhoff [Sr]
1905

Updated through online Information from David Bains [February 4, 2026]: The congregation moved ca. 1992 and took a new name. The building was razed in 2009. I don't know what became of the organ.

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According to the Birmingham Post-Herald, Fri, Mar 31, 1905 · Page 5, "The Ladies' Aid society, in addition to furnishing the parsonage complete, have bought a carpet for the Sunday school room and carpet for the main auditorium, pews and a handsome pipe organ." Builder not identified.

Further: Birmingham Post-Herald, Fri, Mar 24, 1905 · Page 5: "The Installation of the pipe organ has been completed, Wednesday afternoon the members of the Ladies' Aid Society assembled to listen to the instrument, the tone of which is singularly pleasing, with ample reserve power. The organ is a Barckhoff and is the instrument which has been on exhibition for a few months at the warerooms of the Seals Piano company."

From church website:
"Our congregation first gathered to form a new church in 1903 as 11th Avenue Methodist-Episcopal Church, located in on the south side of Birmingham city. After eight decades of ministry, in 1989 the congregation relocated..." This would suggest the organ was installed here c. 1903, perhaps an older instrument transferred from another location.

An original installation. Identified by Gene Clark, Jr., based on information from previous organist for a previously-existing church.
-- It was a tracker-action organ so old that there was still a [set of?] bellows with it even though it eventually was powered by means of electricity. I also remember being told about the sforzando pedal. I was born in 1955--and I understand that it was removed only several years prior to my birth. The church itself, a historical landmark, was eventually razed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (its final owner), due to the hazards caused by its extremely debilitated state. I remember being told that the pipes covered the stained glass windows over the choir loft--and that "there wasn't room for much else there" in this part of the church. I am uncertain as to whether or not said instrument was new at the time it was installed here.