WurliTzer Pipe Organ

	in the Tivoli Theatre                       Downers Grove, Illinois

                                                                        WurliTzer OPUS 942

 This organ was originally installed in  the Indiana Theatre in East Chicago, IN, in 1924, was purchased by CATOE and relocated to the Maine Township High School, North, in DesPlaines. John Muri presented the program for the organ dedication at the school. Declining enrollment after the peak of the baby boom caused the district to close the school and sell the building to the Illinois State Police. The organ needed a new home and in  1992 was moved into the Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove. The Tivoli owners Willis and Shirley Johnson actively support theatre organ and welomed the WurliTzer to their flagship theatre of the CLASSIC CINEMAS Theatre Chain. They commissioned an artist to provide the artwork which graces the console. The console was a stark white when it was in the high school. This is the third pipe organ to grace the Tivoli Theatre. The original organ, also a Wurlitzer, was removed in the 1940’s. In the mid 1980's a Barton 2 manual 7 rank was installed, and later moved to the York Theatre in Elmhurst, another "Classic Cinemas" theatre, to make way for the Wurlitzer 3/10.
 
 
 
 

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