The Harmonious Echo ― The Life and Times of the Barley Memorial Organ

In 1929, the widow of a wealthy industrialist gave a pipe organ to the schoolchildren of Marion, Indiana, to be installed in the community's new Memorial Coliseum. The organ was dedicated one year before the start of two and a half decades of depression and war. Challenging times were ahead for the country and for the small midwestern city of Marion. "The Harmonious Echo," is the story of that organ. But it is also the story of the events and politics that were part of the times. The organ was both celebrated and ignored. Money to care for it was rarely available, causing it to slide into disuse after only thirty-five years. The organ, Estey Organ Company's Opus 2727, is unusual in itself. The organ was equipped with Estey's "luminous" console, the storied "cash register console" Estey produced in the 20s. The organ also had an automatic roll player, installed to give students the opportunity to hear live performances of great music. The automatic system was never used. The organ finally becamed unplayable in 1962, and the consoles were removed. There it remained in hibernation until the author resurrected it when he was a college student in 1975. After that, the Barley Memorial Organ was used in concerts, pageants, special events. The life and times of the Barley Memorial Organ includes the horror of the last lynching in the American North, the beginnings of a world-renowned pageant, a merger that saved a bank, and the invention of the first motor home. It also draws in the personalities - entrepreneurs, teachers and school administrators, and musicians that were part of the organ's story. The book also places this particular organ in the context of its time period. It describes organ building in the 1920s, when the organ was so popular that 19,000 people turned out to hear a concert on an organ installed in a department store. The author examines the development of the theater organ (which this organ was not), and of pipe organs in the churches and public buildings in Marion. "The Harmonious Echo," offers a unique look at a critical period in history, by focusing on a particular gift to a small town.