Auburn, Washington
Residence of Dr. Ernest Ford

The organ was originally built by W.W. Kimball in 1913 for the Columbia Theatre in 
Portland, OR.  It was a T-P instrument. 

At an undocumented time, it was moved to Sunnyside Congregational by an unspecified 
person or firm. 

In 1949, Balcom and Vaughan electrified the organ. The chests were releathered and 
the console was converted to an all-electric action. The console shell, pedalboard, 
and bench were retained. A new stop rail and stop tablets replaced the originals.  
New expression and crescendo rollers were installed. As reinstalled, the organ had III 
manuals and pedal controlling Great, Swell, Choir, a floating Echo, and Pedal. There 
were 22 independent registers, 24 speaking stops (inc. chimes), 22 ranks, and 1,484 
pipes.  

At some later date, the church changed its name to Staub Memorial Congregational Church 
in honor of a former pastor.  Ultimately, the congregation disbanded and the building 
with organ was sold to a group called the City Church. That group merged with another 
group in 1978 to form Portland Bible Fellowship.  

In 1986, the Portland Bible Fellowship sold the organ to Redeemer Lutheran Church in 
Gresham, OR. for $5,000.00.  It was placed in storage with the intent of having the 
organ refurbished and reinstalled. However, after buying the organ, they discovered 
that it was too large for the available space and would require greatly minimizing 
the size of the organ or expensive alterations to their sanctuary.  It was offered 
for sale.  

The organ was sold to Dr. Ernest Ford of Auburn, WA. in 1992 for $2,000.00. The organ 
was rebuilt on new D-E unit chests and again, new stop tablets replaced the 1949 units. 
A Peterson solid state diode matrix relay system was added. The organ is installed in 
an upstairs room in the home. The organ is in side-by-side chambers at the far end of 
the room with the Great and Choir on the left, and the Swell and Pedal on the right.  
The console faces the chambers and is centered in the room about 8' from the expression 
shutters.

[On-line description by James R. Stettner, June, 2005]