R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press A behemoth of a machine, a dismantled Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra Style 3 rests backstage at the Delft Theater as James Peterson stands behind it.

ESCANABA — A theater organ that was initially installed in a theater in Detroit in 1916 has made its way to Escanaba by way of Sault Ste. Marie. The monstrous machine, weighing in the neighborhood of two tons, is presently in pieces, and a local division of a national group of organ enthusiasts is working to see it restored and installed in a historic downtown theater.

The instrument is a model that was called a “unit orchestra,” for its scale and range was meant to recreate the sounds of a whole troupe of musicians with a variety of instruments — but played by one person. Unlike the somber church organ, theater organs were meant to accompany silent films of the era, producing a whole range of sound effects controlled by a player who sat at the keyboard and watched the movie screen to match the audio with the visual.

The journey could be said to have begun when a German man by the name of Franz Rudolph Wurlitzer immigrated to the United States in 1853. He began an instrument supply company in Cincinnati, then gradually bought out instrument manufacturers and opened his own retail music stores around the country. His son, Farny Reginald Wurlitzer, soon joined the company and brought additional ideas.

At the end of the 19th century, Robert Hope-Jones was an English electrical engineer and musician before he began experimenting with revisions to the design of the traditional pipe organ, which until then was pneumatic and fairly limited. Hope-Jones implemented a number of mechanical improvements to organs’ sound and playability, and ended up going into business for himself. After moving to the United States, he founded the Hope-Jones Organ Company in Elmira, New York in 1907.

The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company bought the assets of the Hope-Jones Organ Company just a couple years later. The inventions of the British musician paired with the ambitions of the German entrepreneurs produced that beast of a musical machine — the Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra.

2,238 Wurlitzer organs — mostly theater, some church — were produced over a 32-year period, according to the North East Theatre Organ Association, a charity dedicated to their preservation in England.

The Wurlitzer recently brought to Escanaba was the 86th one made. The model is a “Style 3,” of which there were 47 made, according to theatreorgans.com, which collects available records on all 2,238 Wurlitzers. The organ has seven “ranks” — sets of pipes — which was “very typical for a small- to medium-sized theater,” said Don Curran of Escanaba, secretary for the Great Lakes Bay chapter of the American Theater Organ Society.

This particular instrument was originally installed in the Stratford Theater in Detroit and was shipped there on Jan. 4, 1916.

The Stratford Theater showed the “highest class films only, changed daily,” according to an advertisement from the time. It seated 1,137 people and boasted “music furnished exclusively by a Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra, Style 3, and that it is well-liked by the patrons is proven by the numerous requests that are handed in nightly for the playing of special overtures and selections,” as the ad read. The organist was Doris Gutow, according to the Detroit Theater Organ Society (DTOS).

When the Stratford was updated in the 1930s, the theater organ was moved to Our Lady of Help Christian Church, as DTOS records say. Later, John Rinn in St. Clair, Mich. purchased it and moved it into his home. According to the DTOS, the organ had been lacking a tibia in its original plan, and Rinn obtained one and added it to the organ.

The 86th Wurlitzer remained in the Rinn residence until 2004. The family was looking to clean out the house and sell the organ, but with no takers, they ended up donating it to the Soo Theatre in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., said John Ignatowski, who was then a board member of the Soo Theatre Project. The organ was dismantled and brought to the Soo in October 2004, where the theater was in the process of being restored. But the organ just sat.

The Soo Theatre hosts music and theater education classes, theatrical productions, operas, summer camps — all of which keeps the nonprofit pretty busy and made the installation of an organ seem unrealistic to them.

“We’ve been storing it for all that time until last year … we just decided it had to go somewhere else,” said Soo Theatre Project Executive Director Colleen Arbic. “We’ve kept John in the loop all this time, and he found a place for it in Escanaba.”

Ignatowski, an organist himself, now lives in Escanaba and is the music director at St. Joseph and St. Patrick Catholic Church. Having heard about efforts to restore the Delft Theater on Ludington Street, he contacted the new owners there.

A contemporary of the Stratford Theater that originally housed the organ, the Delft held its grand opening to the public on Nov. 16, 1914. However, it utilized a different setup.

“The Delft was one of those rare theaters in small towns in the 1920s that actually accompanied their movies with a full orchestra, a 10 piece orchestra,” said Curran. The organ it housed in the space behind its proscenium arch was likely a modified church organ, he said.

James Peterson, who’s been working to revitalize the Delft, said that he initially turned down the offer to bring in the Wurlitzer theater organ because he’d heard about how costly they could be to maintain. Peterson is now counting on the local enthusiasts to arrange for its care.

Though acknowledging that organ builders are getting fewer and farther between, Curran said he believes it’s feasible to maintain the organ once it’s restored.

“In the club, we have one very experienced organist, organ tuner, and then we have an installer right here. … Bethany Lutheran Church here in town has got an organ. They bring in installers from time to time to refurbish and tune it. So we have access to expertise that will help us along,” Curran said.

Last summer — in 2023 — the majority of Wurlitzer 86 was transported by volunteers in a large U-Haul from the Soo Theatre to the Delft. Some more delicate pieces remained in the Soo, where they are expected to be safe until it is time to install them.

Phil Stapert, another local organist, is reportedly in contact with installers to get a cost estimate for the refurbishment and installation of the theater organ in the Delft. Once a figure is obtained, said Ignatowski and Curran, the group will seek to raise funds and apply for grants in order to get it installed in the Ludington Street venue.

“We’ve got several organists around the around the country who are interested in seeing this happen, possibly coming in and being part of an effort to to come and keep it playing,” Ignatowski said.

Should the goals be reached, “we plan on having Phantom of the Opera, murder mysteries and other cultural performing art events,” Peterson said.