The Free State Theatre Organ Society formed in the mid 1980's for the purpose of bringing Theatre Organ music to the Baltimore, Maryland, area. Taking the nickname for the state of Maryland, this group of people started by meeting in one of the members home and helping to install a theatre organ there. As they became more organized and started collecting material they found various places in the city where they could store organ parts and work. None of these seem to last very long and we were an organization on the move.  With the help of Governor William Donald Schaefer we were given the chance to lease a building at Spring Grove Hospital Center (http://www.springgrove.com/). A three story, six ward hospital building that was constructed in the 1930's but had been unused for may years. Our members saw the potential in the building and started uncovering the floors which had been the catch pan for years of bird dropping, the current occupants of the building.  After locating to the building we found that the hospital had a small patient activity center and auditorium with space on the left side of the stage that would house a small pipe organ. The opposite side was filled with an unused heating system. The hospital agreed with our plans and a Wicks pipe organ built under the Robert Morton name that was rescued from a local theatre was installed in the auditorium. This organ served us for 20 years and was removed in 2009.

        It was the membership's dream to someday have a larger theatre organ and we have worked towards that goal for over 25 years. A few years ago the hospital decided to upgrade the heating system in Rice Auditorium and they removed the old air system from the right side of the stage. With this out of the way we have approached the hospital with the idea of installing a 3/18 theatre pipe organ. They have reviewed our plans and we are moving forward on the project.

        The Free State Theatre Organ Society, Inc., is a non-profit 501 (C) (3) organization who's goal is to bring theatre organ music to the Baltimore area. We hold monthly free concerts for the community and can be found almost every Tuesday at Cottage E working on our project.

STONE COTTAGE E

July 2010

OFFICERS

Freestate Theatre Organ Society, Inc.

4504 Maple Avenue

Halethorpe, MD 21227

Telephone (Tuesday only) 410-402-7811