This pipe organ was built in 1870 by the Marshall Brothers Organ Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Grand Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri.  The organ had tracker or mechanical action and wind was supplied by hand pumping. 

This instrument reflects the fine tonal characteristics of English organ building during the mid-nineteenth century.  John Lancashire, a master organ builder, came to the United States from London in 1864 to install a Lewis pipe organ (purchased by the Marshall Brothers firm) from London, England, in Grace Church, Ripon Wisconsin.  The Marshall Brothers persuaded Lancashire to join them in organizing an organ factory that became known as the Marshall Brothers Organ Company.  Lancashire, in turn, persuaded three English employees to join the enterprise:  Charles S. Barlow, the key maker, Edward “Ted” Harris, an excellent pipe maker, and William H. Turner.

The organ, upon construction of the present Grand Avenue Temple United Methodist Church in 1912, was reinstalled in the Assembly Hall by the Ernest M. Skinner Organ Company, Boston, Massachusetts. Electro-pneumatic action to control the original slider windchests and an electric Spencer blower were provided at that time.

Additionally, the Skinner company replaced the Swell Salicional stop with one of its own design and a Voix Celeste to go with it.  The Swell Flautino 2’ and Great Trumpet 8’ and Mixture III were removed. 

During the Great Depression, this instrument was sold to the First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Kansas City, Kansas.  When that church’s congregation sold its building in 1993, the organ was once again for sale.  Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., purchased the instrument in July 1994. 

The organ has been rebuilt with new electro-pneumatic slider windchests, a new all-electric two-manual and pedal console (which features a multi-level capture combination action and multiplex switching system), a new case incorporating the bass pipes of the Great Principal 8’, a new blower, and the replacement of the missing Great Mixture III, fabricated from scales known to have been used by the builder.

The organ contains 1,304 pipes constructed of various alloys of tin and lead and zinc and wood.  The prepared for Great Trumpet 8’, the Swell Flautino 2’, and the Pedal 8-4′ Diapason unit have been installed.