Lewis Miller drawing of Tannenberg and his last organ.
Many of us are familiar with the beautiful 1804 Tannenberg organ at the York County Heritage Trust. Free public concerts are given on the organ each year during July and August on Fridays from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. It is amazing to me to hear the different sounds each talented local organist draws from the 200-year-old instrument.
Only nine of the 42 known organs built by David Tannenberg still exist, so we are lucky that this last of his organs, built for Christ Lutheran Church, has survived. It did some moving around the last two centuries. It was first installed in Christ's stone church. When that was torn down and the brick church built 1812-14, it was installed in the north gallery, where it was used continuously until 1893, until a new and larger pipe organ was donated.
The Tannenberg was moved to their "beehive" chapel in the summer of 1905 and painted a dark color. The organ was given by the church to the Historical Society of York County in 1945 and removed by Frederick J. Furst. The organ, however, could not be reconstructed until the historical society moved to larger quarters at 250 East Market Street in 1959. At that time Mr. Furst was engaged to put it together again and restore it to playable order. It was moved from the second floor of the historical society building to its present first floor location in 1988. Since that time, there has been additional restoration and more to be done in the future as funds are raised.
To read more about the Tannenberg organ and its builder, see my recent York Sunday News column below.
