Manitowoc church celebrates refurbished 105-year-old pipe organ

For more than a century, the architectural chords of a pipe organ have rung through the pews of First German Lutheran Church church in Manitowoc.

Thanks to a restoration that took around two years and more than $500,000, church members hope the organ will delight and inspire church members for decades to come.

Earlier this month, the church in downtown Manitowoc held a special service to celebrate the organ’s restoration. The project to fix the instrument began as a way to mark the 150th anniversary of the construction of the church in 2023.

The organ was first installed in 1919. Church organist Joel Ungemach told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” the strength of the church’s pipe organ is its versatility.

“It can be used softly to present a quiet message at Christmas time, and it can fill the church with sound — all with one person playing — as we celebrate the resurrection at Easter,” Ungemach said. “So the beauty of a pipe organ itself is to be able to speak the many different moods of Christian congregation worshiping.”

Pastor Jacob Hoff leads the congregation at First German Lutheran Church. He experiences the organ in a different way.

“You can feel it in the space when the organist really opens it up and lets the volume ring out, and it’s a loud song of praise and the congregation is singing,” Hoff said. “You can actually feel it vibrating in your body and rattling you to the bones as hundreds of people sometimes gather together singing praises,”

The organ was disassembled and sent to a company in Ohio to be repaired. The congregation was without the organ for around four months, according to Ungemach. He said, as an organist, the difference before and after the repair is readily apparent.

“We’re not having to compensate for all the little things — and some very big things — that were going wrong over the last few years,” Ungemach said.

Pastor Hoff said the importance of the organ goes beyond the notes it plays.

“The sound of (this) instrument was a part of (church members’) childhood, a part of their adolescent years,” Hoff said. “The sound of an instrument that was with them when they were at the funeral of a loved one. It was an instrument that helped them find hope and peace and comfort.” 

“So when it was starting to fall into disrepair,” he said, “the opportunity to rebuild it and have that for generations to come in the future was something they didn’t want to pass up.”