Henry Pratt
Opus 1, 1798

Updated though online information from Scot L. Huntington (April 6, 2025): After traveling with his father to Hudson, NY. where he helped install a new organ, a young Henry Pratt decided to try his hand at organ building, Capt. Sam Smith, a ship's captain who retired in Winchester, agreeing to pay $300 if the organ played. The organ was completed in 1799 and Smith gifted it to the Winchester Meeting House. When the Congregationalists built a new building the organ was given to the town who sold it to the Universalists in 1842, and it was repaired by Henry's son Julius, ca. 1850. By 1883 it is recorded the organ was in disrepair, and was given to the town in 1903 and moved into the library. It was restored by the Stuart Organ Co. (Richard Hedgebeth) in 1976.

The organ is nearly identical to the church organ now in the Meeting House at Sturbridge Village. The pipes are all wood except for the top octave of the 12th and the top two octaves of the 15th. The organ is unenclosed and the cornice box and roof are new 1976. The organ is exceptionally well preserved. The double-rise wedge reservoir is fed by a single diagonal feeder, powered by foot or a vertical handle at the side of the organ. The feeder action is especially heavy to operate. The keyboard is new in 1976 and is not of historic design. The unlabeled stops, (brass drawer pulls) work backwards, i.e. in is on and out is off. There is an inoperative machine stop which should turn the 12 and 15 on and off. The stop list is 8 open, 8 stopt, and open 4, 3 and 2. The compass is GG, AA, BB-d51. The absence of GG# and AA# was typical for church organs tuned in meantone, and these notes are musically unusable. The case is thick mahogany veneer on pine, and figured mahogany in the keydesk. The keyboard pulls out to play and the hinged door opens to expose the keydesk. The facade comprises half-round wooden dummies, gilded (renewed 1976). The center section of the facade is removable for tuning. The 1976 restoration was conservative and historically respectful. The case is structural, i.e. the internal works do not have an independent framework. The pallet box as it the rear and the key tails engage a fan backfall extending to the back of the organ and the iron pull-downs extend through three linkage sections to the backfall. The bottom two octaves are diatonic with a wood rollerboard, and then the chest runs chromatic. The organ is unplayable, having no key dip as a result of being abandoned and neglected for over 10 years. The current administration is aware of the organ's great historical value (the nation's oldest non-Pennsylvania built American organ) and hopes to return it to service. The poor condition of the organ makes the pitch and pressure readings suspect, and the bellows weights are new in 1976: 30 mm w.p. and A433. The quality of construction, and of the many wood pipes in particular is extremely high, the equal of Boston organ building of the period. The tone of the ensemble is gentle and flutey.

This entry represents the original installation of a new organ. Identified from information on a related OHS Database entry (ID=4836). This organ was moved in 1903 to the Conant Library in Winchester.