For 150 years, Westminster has distinguished itself with
high-quality music, musicians, and musical instruments. When many
churches had only a piano or reed organ, Westminster’s first
church building (completed in about 1866 and located at 6th &
L Streets in downtown Sacramento) had a small, hand-pumped pipe
organ.
For 150 years, Westminster has distinguished itself with
high-quality music, musicians, and musical instruments. When many
churches had only a piano or reed organ, Westminster’s first
church building (completed in about 1866 and located at 6th &
L Streets in downtown Sacramento) had a small, hand-pumped pipe
organ.
The second home of Westminster Presbyterian Church (completed in
about 1904 and located at 13th & K Streets) had a larger pipe
organ with impressive façade pipes.
The current home of Westminster (completed in 1927 and located at
13th & N Streets across from Capitol Park) was originally
equipped with a 28-rank Reuter pipe organ; in 1979 a new console
was installed, and in 1983 a major expansion was completed by the
M. P. Möller Organ Company. More recent additions include: 8′
state trumpet, 32′ contra bourdon, 32′ contra bombarde, and new
swell reeds. Future additions include: gallery 8′ festival
trumpet; gallery 8′, 4′, 2′ principal and mixture; redesigned
swell division; new solid-state console.
As Westminster enters it’s 150th year, exciting plans are
evolving to continue our tradition of musical excellence and
service to the greater Sacramento community. (See photos of our
recently installed 26″ church bell.) You are invited to celebrate
the joy with us!
The copy below this July 14, 1974 Sacramento Bee photo reads:
Although this building was torn down in 1926, the stained
glass windows on the left will look familiar to some Sacramentans
because they are presently in the Westminster Presbyterian Church
at 13th and N Streets. This picture ws taken in the early
1920’s in the old Westminster Church which was at [13th] and K
Streets…
An old photograph [now missing] shows a tiny console in the old
wooden church, about the size of an upright piano, with a few
small pipes sticking out behind the choir loft. At the right of
the instrument is a black screen, hiding the person who stood
there, pumping air into the windchest to keep up the pressure as
the organist played, and as the congregation sang “We gather
together… .”
