The foot pedals make the sound louder or quieter and must be pressed at the same time as the keys on top. In order to play the full-size organs, you must have good coordination, as many of the organs have multiple large keyboards, side cranks, foot pedals, and small wooden planks that are played by pressing down with your feet. Air is forced over reeds of various sizes and designs to create notes. A reed organ operates similarly to a harmonica, melodeon or accordion. The Estey Company made "reed" or "pump" organs, which can be operated with feet as well as hands. Sadly, a fire in 1990 destroyed half of one of the eight buildings. Because of this, the most recent location was very fire-conscious and the roofs and sidings were made out of slate. (In the Estey Organ Museum you can see organs made in the various locations.) At two of the locations, fires occurred because so much wood was involved in the creation of the organs. Previous to their location on Birge Street, the Estey Company had operated in three locations along the Whetstone Brook. When they were first built, the eight buildings that the company owned took up a huge area in Brattleboro and were powered by steam, which was popular at the time. The Estey Organ Company was extremely influential to Brattleboro and the surrounding area in the late 1800s and early- to mid-1900s, employing around 600 people at its peak. Many people in Brattleboro know about the Estey Organ Company, established by Jacob Estey in 1855, and some even remember when it was still operating. There were also photos of Estey organs being used in different locations, like churches and even people's homes. Every piece had to be exactly the right size in order for the notes on the organ to sound right. In another room there were photographs on the wall showing the many steps it took to successfully make an organ. It was a very complicated machine that created extraordinary music! The organ's low sounds came from manipulating foot pedals, mid-range sounds came from one keyboard and high-range sounds came from another. If you walked behind it while someone was playing, you could see the different parts moving that made the sound. One exhibit had an organ meant to go in a church that had 450 pipes coming out of it. When we arrived inside the museum, many students experimented with playing the 100-plus-year-old organs, which we found to be very different from pianos.
At the museum's entrance we met John Carnahan who told us about the museum and the history of the Estey Organ Company. This past week students from the Brattleboro Area Middle School visited the Estey Organ Museum on Birge Street as part of a project to learn more about our community's past.
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