Russell Meyer & Associates, 

Lawrenceville, Georgia, 

Opus 14

First Presbyterian Church, 

Clarkesville, Georgia

Historic First Presbyterian Church of 

Clarkesville, Georgia, was built in 1848 

by Jarvis Van Buren, a first cousin of 

President Martin Van Buren. The first 

pipe organ in the building was installed 

in the rear gallery by the Greenwood 

Pipe Organ Company in 1983.



The  Atlanta  Pipe  Organ  Sales  & 

Service Company rebuilt and enlarged 

the Greenwood organ to seven ranks in 

1989, retaining a set of twelve old 16′ 

Bourdon pipes, a 4′ Principal, a tenor-

C Dulciana, a set of swell shades, a set 

of Maas-Rowe chimes, and a rebuilt 

two-manual drawknob console originally made by the Skinner Organ Company 

in 1926 for First Methodist Church of 

Hendersonville,  North  Carolina.  The 

1989 organ included a new organ case, 

five ranks of new pipes manufactured by the Wicks Organ Company, and entirely 

new electro-mechanical windchests with schwimmers. The Great division con-

sisted of two unenclosed ranks—an 8′ 

Principal and a 4′/2′ unit Octave—plus 

numerous  borrowed  stops  from  the 

Swell division. The Swell comprised an 

85-note unit Rohr Flute, a 4′ Principal, 

a 37-note, tenor-C Tierce, and a pair 

of 49-note, tenor-C dulcianas without 

common bass. Because the organ had

only one flute rank of 8′ pitch with a 

16′ extension, the soft 16′ pedal stop 

(activated by means of dual valves) dif-

fered from the loud 16′ stop only in its 

lowest octave. The organ possessed no 

reed tone. 

Russell Meyer & Associates were con-

tracted to rebuild and enlarge the organ 

in 2020. We added six ranks of pipes 

from M. P. Möller Opus 9739 (1962), 

originally installed in St. Mary-in-the-

Highlands  Episcopal  Church,  Cold 

Spring, New York. To make the Great 

division more independent from the 

Swell, we added a III–IV rank mixture 

with its quints derived from a 49-note 

1 1 ⁄ 3 ′ rank and its unisons from a 49-note 1′ rank. We also added a delightful 

73-note wooden Gedeckt and moved 

the former 49-note Dulciana Celeste 

from  the  Swell  along  with  twelve 

Haskell  bass  pipes  added  from  our 

inventory. We also included a borrowed 

16′ voice in the Great that produces a 

balanced level of gentle 16′ manual tone not achievable by the clumsier means of a suboctave coupler.

In the Swell division we replaced the 

previous dulcianas with a pair of moder-

ately scaled violes. Because the unison 

Viole is full-compass, we were able to 

employ it as a common bass for a warmly singing 8′ extension of the existing 4′ Principal, a very useful stop indeed. Perhaps most significant in terms of tonal variety was our addition of an 85-note unit 16′ Trumpet conveniently playable in every division. This Trumpet performs beautifully as both a chorus reed and a solo stop.



Improvements to the Pedal division 

include a 32′ resultant and a gentle 16′ 

stop that retains a different character 

and softer volume from its louder sister 

throughout the entire compass of the 

pedalboard.  The  provision  of  cantus 

stops also adds to the versatility of the 

instrument. It is quite surprising how

effectively the revised Pedal division 

undergirds the full ensemble, yet is able 

to do almost anything the organist asks of it, be it a quiet bass, a sweet melody, or a bold pedal solo.

To accommodate the added ranks, we 

expanded the organ case in matching 

appearance to double its previous size. 

We retained the existing console shell, 

bench, keyboards, and pedalboard but 

supplied all new thumb pistons, toe 

studs, drawknobs, tilting tablets, and a 

digital console clock. We manufactured 

new key slips, stop jambs, coupler rail, 

and music rack, and provided LED 

console lighting. We reconfigured the 

winding system and built new electro-

mechanical windchests for five ranks, 

two  additional  schwimmers,  and  a 

seven-bell  Zimbelstern  of  our  own 

design. A new Opus-Two control system provides a 250-level combination action, piston sequencer, transposer, and built-

in record/playback that operates totally 

on internal memory. We also installed 

a new 64-stage electric swell motor, 

as well as LED work lights inside the 

organ case.

I acknowledge and thank my col-

leagues and friends who worked with 

me  on  the  construction,  installation, 

and tonal finishing of this organ: Allen 

Colson, Joshua Crook, Tommy McCook, 

Michael Proscia, Corley Easterling, Bud 

Taylor, and Tom Wigley. John Thomas 

and Stephen McCarthy assisted with the removal of the Cold Spring instrument. 

We are grateful to the church Session, the congregation, and the staff for 

entrusting us with this project. Rever-

end Matthew Henderson is the pastor, 

Areatha Ketch is music director, and 

Sandra Altman is organist.

—Russell Meyer, president