The first pipe organ at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was installed in 1884 and thus began a long history of instruments that were either mechanically unreliable (sometimes due to heating and climate issues) or from solutions that were less than comprehensive. The first organ was by Hook & Hastings but was done in by a heating system that baked the organ, drying the wood and causing it to leak badly. This began a long succession of short-term fixes.

In the mid 2000’s an organ committee was formed to at last take a comprehensive approach to the organ. Though previous instruments had been hampered by entombment in chambers on either side of the chancel, a decision was made to move the organ to the center axis of the room providing for a shallow case and much better tonal egress. The new organ contains some 23 ranks from previous instruments including the original 1884 Hook & Hastings.