ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

From: Jon C Habermaas, November 1999

WGN organ was in a TV studio in the broadcast building on Bradley Place. It was not used for broadcasting for years, the few times an organ was used the organist playing preferred to use an electronic. Only time the organ was heard was for an occasional organ club activity. TV station wanted the organ out of their way, so the Tribune Company donated the organ to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The organ was originally a 2/7 WurliTzer with a brass trumpet, very unusual for a small organ.

When the WGN radio studios were built next to the Tribune Tower, Kimball was contracted to enlarge the organ and they added a Diapason, Clarinet and English Horn (classical style) to augment the Wurlitzer and controlled the new installation with a 3 manual Kimball console.

The organ was removed and the WurliTzer portion of the organ was incorporated into the theatre organ in the seminary auditorium at Mundelein, Illinois.

The Kimball console and Kimball portions were sold to a party in Wisconsin. A fire where the organ was stored severely damaged the console and destroyed some of the pipes.

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