Davis-Ferris Organ

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The Davis-Ferris Organ, built in 1847, is the oldest three-manual pipe organ in the United States that has escaped major changes. It sits in the Round Lake Auditorium in Round Lake, New York. It originally stood in Calvary Church in Manhattan and was moved to Round Lake in 1888, where it was used for summer programs similar to Chautauqua into the 1920s. Today the village owns and maintains the organ, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

The instrument is a largely free-standing unit inside a wooden Gothic case, which may have been designed by James Renwick Jr., the architect of Calvary Church. The case measures about 24 by 16 by 23 feet and serves mainly as a protective enclosure for the organ’s workings, including its three manuals, pedal board, air system, and its network of pipes. Air was originally supplied by water-powered bellows; an electric blower was added in the early 20th century when the auditorium was electrified. Most of the basic controls are essentially original; the main changes over time include shortening the longest pipes to fit the new location and likely a revoicing after installation.

The organ was built by Richard M. Ferris for Calvary Church, with Ferris briefly partnering with William H. Davis—the source of the instrument’s name. It stayed in the church for about forty years until the vestry felt it no longer fit its ecclesiastical practices. In the 1880s, Round Lake’s Methodist camp meeting was declining as a religious venue but expanding into more secular, Chautauqua-like programs, and in 1888 the organ began playing a role there as well. It continued in use through the 1920s. Interest in the organ revived in the 1960s, and since then the village has carried out ongoing repairs, rehabilitation, and improvements.