Largest pipe organ of its kind in use in Gordonville

If you open the wooden door to the right of the pipe organ that fills the back wall of the sanctuary at Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville and step behind it, you can see the inner workings of the organ, a behind-the-scenes sort of view. On the organ, you’ll find several signatures and dates people have signed onto it throughout the years. One of them reads “Charles Bartels 1891.”

It’s the signature of the first organist at the church to play the Jackson tracker action pipe organ, which was patented in 1868. According to the church’s book of history, it is the largest one-manual pipe organ known throughout the area. The organ, which consists of 360 pipes, has been played continuously nearly every Sunday at the church since it was installed in 1892.

In this in-camera double exposure photgraph, the internal components of an 127-year-old pipe organ at Zion Methodist Church move as an organist plays the instrument Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, in Gordonville, Missouri. BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

The organ was manufactured in Chester, Illinois, by Jackson Pipe Organ Co. and purchased for $600 by Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville in 1891 or 1892; in 1992, the church had it overhauled and repaired for approximately $44,000.

Although there was some concern from members of the congregation about whether or not the money should be spent to renovate the instrument, the money was speedily raised once everyone got on board with the idea. Gene King, who is the unofficial historian of the church, says the decision was well worth it.

Symbols are seen on the pipes of an 127-year-old organ at Zion Methodist Church on Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, in Gordonville, Missouri. The organ is one of three "Jackson tracker" pipe organs still in use today.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

“Since it’s antique, since it’s old, to me, it’s precious. And I’m sure it’s the same way with a lot of people here in church,” says King, who became a member of the church around 1967 when he married his wife, a lifelong member at the church. “My goodness, if we had to overhaul it again, if it cost $100,000, we’d probably do it. It’s just part of us, you know, part of the church.”

King says the church was founded in Gordonville in 1847 by German immigrants from towns outside of Braunsweig, Germany. They were evangelical Lutherans and first met in what King says was probably a log building. The current church building was built in 1867 from bricks made from the clay of a nearby hillside; the headstone above the door of the sanctuary is still written in German.

An 127-year-old "Jackson tracker" pipe organ is seen Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, at Zion Methodist Church in Gordonville, Missouri. The instrument is one of three still in use today.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

One of the church’s leaders, Friedrich Stoffregen, was inspired by people who came to Gordonville from St. Louis in the pursuit of organizing a German Methodist church in the area. After hearing them preach the Wesley way, he decided to lead his congregation to German Methodism, and Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville became the first German Methodist church in Southeast Missouri.

The Jackson tracker action pipe organ is the second organ the congregation has used; the first one, which was used during the mid-1800s until the current organ was purchased, was a smaller one that member Sharon Wendel still has in her home. Before the church got electricity in 1948, King says the story goes that small boys who could fit behind the organ would turn a handle much like an ice cream crank to pump air into the instrument. Sometimes, they would fall asleep during the sermon and the organ wouldn’t make a sound when it was time for the congregation to sing. Because it could get cold behind the instrument, the boys would be brought out to join the congregation in the choir loft when the congregation wasn’t singing a hymn.

After this, the church got a generator — King estimates this was in the 1920s — and then electricity in the 1940s to pump air into the organ.

The organ is comprised mainly of wood and leather, with metal pipes. The term “tracker action” refers to the mechanics of the organ and the way the keys or pedals pressed by the organist link to the valve that allows air to flow into the pipes and sound the note.

Brenda Neumeyer knows about this; she has played the Jackson tracker action pipe organ at Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville every Sunday since the 1970s when her cousin Ruby Deneke taught her how to play the organ and handed the position over to her. Neumeyer took piano lessons as a child; her aunt, Melba Deneke, was the organist at the church before Ruby. Susan Hatley also played the organ at the church for approximately a year. King guesses Charles Bartels might have been the only other organist to play the instrument at their church.

Neumeyer, who has been a member of Zion United Methodist Church her whole life, says she enjoys playing the organ because she likes the hymns and the sound of the organ. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is one of her favorites to play on the instrument.

“One thing I really like about playing that organ is there are people who really appreciate hearing it,” she says. “Every once in a while, some lady will say, ‘I really like to hear the organ,’ and that makes it worthwhile, it really does. And I think that’s more important to me because I could go down and play it by myself, but if people want to hear it, I enjoy using it then.”

Reverend Scott Griffin, pastor of the church, says the way the congregation simultaneously preserves the past while incorporating modern elements gives them an energy that allows them to grow. It’s evident in the T.V. screens that hang on both sides of the organ to project hymn lyrics, their Sunday services that utilize contemporary and traditional worship music and instrumentation, and the discipleship carried out amongst members through Sunday school and small groups. Although Griffin notes it’s a small, rural congregation “off the beaten path, two one-way bridges and some railroad tracks to get here,” there is a vibrancy that comes from their “attitude of we’re going to make it work around here, and we’re going to make sure it keeps working.”

It’s an attitude embodied, perhaps, in the way the congregation cares for their 127-year-old Jackson tracker action pipe organ.

“This [congregation] has a great respect for the heritage,” Griffin says. “We’re glad we can play [the organ] every week, we want to hear that, but we also incorporate new sounds. … They don’t over-appreciate [the organ], but then they want to take care of it, and as [King] said, if it costs a lot of money to renovate, that would be of interest to them because it’s a part of who we are.”