Midmer-Losh Organ Company

The Midmer-Losh Organ Company is a defunct pipe organ building business located in Merrick, New York.

Reuben Midmer founded his own organ building company in Brooklyn, New York in 1860. His son Reed started working at the shop at age 14 and eventually took charge of the shop. Around 1875, the name of the company was changed to "Reuben Midmer & Son." When Reuben died, Reed purchased the business from his father's estate; and in 1906, he moved the shop to Merrick.[1]

Seibert and George Losh acquired the Midmer & Son firm in 1920 and changed the name of the firm to "Midmer-Losh Organ Company" in 1924.[2]

Among the many instruments built, the company made 42 theatre organs during the age of silent films.[3] It also built what is currently the world's largest pipe organ: the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ in the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey; inaugurated in 1932, it has over 33,000 pipes controlled from a seven-manual console. However, due to flooding, neglect and building renovations, some parts of the organ are currently inoperable and undergoing renovation.[4]

There is also a fully operational and reconditioned Midmer-Losh organ at the Church of the Assumption, Ansonia, CT. Reconditioning work was completed in 1999 by Foley-Baker Inc. It has roughly 30 ranks and slightly over 2,000 pipes. It was built on or about the same time as the organ in Atlantic City.

References
  1. Ochse, Orpha (1988). The History of the Organ in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 278–279. ISBN 978-0253204950. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  2. Grand Ophicleide Issue 27, page 6.
  3. "Opus Database". Theatre Organs.com. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  4. Swisher, Charles; Carl Loeser (July 21, 2009). "Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall's Midmer-Losh Organ: An Update". The Diapason. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
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