History of the Austin Concert Organ At Chattanooga’s Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium

Few American cities can boast of having a versatile masterpiece like the magnificent Austin pipe organ in Chattanooga’s Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. This historic organ has been acclaimed as one of the finest ever built. It is the only one of its kind remaining in the Southeast. Edwin Lemare, its designer and first organist at Memorial Auditorium, said in 1925: “Its tone, power and flexibility are unexcelled. The city has gained a rare treasure which will afford … enjoyment now and for untold years to come. The Chattanooga organ is an artistic triumph—tonally and mechanically.”

Installed at the Auditorium in 1924 at a cost of $50,000, Chattanooga’s Awesome Austin is a one-of-a-kind acoustic instrument. This immense 81-rank concert organ, operated from a console visible to the audience at house left, originally contained 5,261 pipes, along with percussion, bells, xylophone and chimes—all concealed behind the grillwork above the stage. Designed to reproduce the horns, strings and woodwind sounds of a symphonic orchestra, the concert organ can be thought of as the synthesizer of its day; however it’s an acoustic synthesizer powered by air rather than electronics.

Over the years as the Auditorium underwent various redevelopments, the organ’s parts deteriorated. Roof leaks caused water to rot the original cotton ties on pipes, causing them to fall on one another. Wooden pipes rotted, and broken plaster fell throughout the organ. Entire divisions of pipes disappeared. Some pipes were found at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville and were returned. The complete 438-pipe string division was discovered at the Tabernacle music venue in downtown Atlanta and donated by the club’s current owners.

After consulting with the Memorial Auditorium Board of Directors in 1986, the Chattanooga Music Club authorized a study of the organ by Austin Organs, Inc., builder of the organ in 1924. Using the Austin report, CMC members and other volunteers began the task of restoring the organ to its original condition.

Since then the Chattanooga Music Club has been raising money to fully restore this unique instrument. The Milnar Organ Company of Tullahoma, Tennessee has been working since 2000 to complete this extensive restoration project.

On July 2, 2007 the organ made its second grand debut with a patriotic salute to our armed forces, headlined by internationally acclaimed concert organist Peter Richard Conte. Since then the Chattanooga Music Club has sponsored many concerts free to the public, continuing its work in fundraising, education and outreach.