4/12 Marr & Colton Theatre Pipe Organ
Ohio Theatre
3114 Lagrange Street
Toledo, OH 43608
(map) (directions)
History
The Theatre Pipe Organ was originally built to replace the large
orchestras needed to accompany the silent movies of the 1920 era.
When the "talkies" came about the Theatre Organ was no longer
needed, therefore, many of them were destroyed along with the movie
theatre where they were housed. The Rivoli and Palace Theaters were
among those slated for demolition in 1968. (The Webstrand Building
and Four Seagate now stands on the site of these two movie
palaces.)
Both theatres had beautiful instruments that needed to be
preserved. Before demolition of the theatre the City of
Toledo removed both organs and stored them in an unused fire
station. In the 1970's a small group of organ enthusiasts, the
Toledo Area Theatre Organ Society (TATOS), approached the City to
find a home and reinstall them. Much to their dismay, the fire
station roof had leaked and many of the pipes and wind chests could
not be used. The group combined the two instruments to make one
playable pipe organ. In 1977 the City of Toledo gave complete
custody of the organ to TATOS provided it remained within the city.
They still needed to find a place to install the instrument - after
much searching the Ohio Theatre graciously accepted TATOS's
proposal to install this great instrument in their theatre. The
project was started in 1977 but wasn't completed until 1985.
The first of many concerts was performed on the Marr & Colton
in September of 1985 with just four of the original 26 ranks of
pipes playable. There are currently 12 ranks installed with 11
playing. The remaining ranks were either destroyed or damaged
beyond repair before removal from the theaters or while in storage.
TATOS is currently working on a third chamber to install more ranks
of pipes on the right side of the theatre auditorium.
The State Theatre on Collingwood Blvd. also had a Marr & Colton Pipe Organ. It was restored in the 1960's by Rick Shindell. He and several others did concerts there until 1972 when the organ was sold and transported to Wisconsin and installed in a private home. In 1999 the owner could no longer keep it so he generously donated it to TATOS as he wanted it returned to Toledo. After an unfruitful search for an additional location for it, many of the components were installed in our existing organ at the Ohio Theatre.
Our Marr & Colton is the only remaining playable Theatre Pipe
Organ in a public venue in Toledo.