The Morton Theater Organ

The Robert Morton organ at the Forum is an instrument with four keyboards, or "manuals", and twenty-four groups (or "ranks") of pipes. It was originally used in the America Theater in Denver in the 1920's. It was removed in 1930 and installed in the Pillar of Fire Church in Denver. The church used it until about 1970, when it was removed by a speculator who transported it to Michigan and stored it in a chicken coop(!) By that time, the trustees of the Binghamton Savings Bank were looking for a theater organ to install in the Forum as a gift to the community. In 1975 they located the Morton organ through a Tennessee broker and sent out two technicians to Michigan to examine it. They purchased the instrument and had it transported to Binghamton. It was restored and installed in the Forum under the direction of local technician George Melnyk.