Antique pipe organs can still be found – and heard – in a few area churches.
Cincinnati master organ builders Johann Heinrich Koehnken and Gallus Grimm cornered the local market from about 1860 to 1896. They made just about every organ for Catholic churches in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, as well as one prominent synagogue – Plum Street Temple – which still has one of the few original Koehnken & Co. instruments in the area.
Here are a few notable church organs from the 19th century still around.
Plum Street Temple organ – 1866
One of the finest examples of a Koehnken pipe organ is found in the Isaac M. Wise Temple, also known as Plum Street Temple, Downtown, built at the request of Rabbi Wise for the Byzantine-Moorish-styled temple in 1866. Organs were not typically used in synagogues, but Wise felt organ music should be a key part of Reform Judaism worship.
Built by Koehnken shortly after he took over the business from master organ maker Matthias Schwab, it cost $9,000 at the time (about $180,000 today). The organ stopped working about 1993 due to age, but in 2005 it was carefully restored by organ maker Fritz Noack at a cost of $385,000, paid for by the Rockwern Foundation.
The Koehnken organ in Plum Street Temple, installed in 1866, underwent major renovation in 2005.
Holy Family organ – 1889
Holy Family Catholic Church in East Price Hill has a Koehnken and Grimm organ that’s older than the church. The organ was built in 1888 for Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sedamsville. After a century, the small parish merged with Holy Family in 1989, and the antique organ was relocated to the Price Hill church, built in 1916. The church raised funds for much-needed repairs on the historic organ in 2019.
Mother of God Church organ – 1876
The Covington Diocese also enlisted Koehnken and Grimm to make the organs for its churches. Mother of God Church, a Covington landmark on Sixth Street, features an 1876 pipe organ installed in the choir loft.
Holy Cross-Immaculata Church organ – 1895
The organ inside Holy Cross-Immaculata Church in Mount Adams is one of the last built by Koehnken and Grimm. It had been installed in Holy Cross Monastery when the church was completed in 1895. A few years after the church closed in 1970, it was moved to the nearby Immaculate Conception, whose organ had fallen into disrepair. The restored organ was dedicated in 1973 and is still played today.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Classic organs in Cincinnati-area churches