Eighteenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church - New York City
Eighteenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church

305-07 West 18th Street
New York, N.Y. 10011


Organ Specifications:
► II/16 J.H. & C.S. Odell, Op. 103 (1871)
• George Jardine & Son (pre-1869)



The Eighteenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1835, making it one of the first four Methodist churches in New York City. A small wooden building on West 20th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, provided a place for services. There was a cemetery in the churchyard that was probably active until 1851 when the city banned burials below 86th Street. In 1885, the members decided to enlarge and remodel the church, and to pay for the work they decided to empty the 128 vaults in the churchyard and sell the property. After some difficulty in convincing the families to agree to disinterment, about 300 bodies were removed to Woodlawn Cemetery in Queens. Public vaults behind the parsonage were undisturbed and apparently forgotten.

In 1945, the congregation merged with the Metropolitan-Duane Methodist Church on Seventh Avenue at 13th Street. The old 18th Street church was demolished in 1950 and replaced with a six-story apartment building. During excavation for the new building, bones and eleven skulls were unearthed that were estimated to be between 100 and 125 years old. The new congregation assumed responsibility of the remains and reinterred them to a cemetery plot owned by the church.
           
J.H. & C.S. Odell
New York City – Opus 103 (1871)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 18 stops, 16 ranks
               
Great Organ(Manual I) – 58 notes
8
   Open Diapason
58
4
   Principal
58
8
   Keraulophon
58
4
   Wald Flute
58
8
   Dulce
58
2 2/3
   Twelfth
58
8
   Stopped Diapason Bass
12
2
   Fifteenth
58
8
   Clarionet Flute
46
8
   Trumpet
58

     

     
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes, enclosed
8
   Open Diapason
58
4
   Violina
58
8
   Dulciana
58
2
   Piccolo
58
8
   Stopped Diapason Bass
12
8
   Oboe
58
8
   Stopped Diapason Treble
46
     Tremulant  
               
Pedal Organ – 25 notes
16
   Grand Bourdon
25
        
               
Couplers, &c.
    Patent Reversible Coupler   Swell to Pedal
    Swell to Great   Bellows Signal
    Great to Pedal    
               
Patent Pneumatic Compositions
1.
   Full Great Organ   Chorus  
2.
   Full to Principal Chorus  
3.
   All of the eight feet stops Choir  
4.
   Keraulophon, Clarionet Flute & Dulce Choir  
5.
   Wald Flute, Clarionet Flute & Dulce Choir  
6.
   Clarionet Flute and Dulce Solo  
7.
   Dulce Solo  
8.
   Wald Flute
Solo
  
           
George Jardine & Son
New York City (before 1869)
Mechanical action


Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.
           
Sources:
     Inskeep, Carolee. The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian's Guide to New York City. Orem, UT: Ancestry Publishers, 1998.
     Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.
     Trupiano, Larry. Factory Specifications for J.H. & C.S. Odell Organ, Op. 103 (1871).

Ilustrations:
     Sperr, Percy Loomis. 1928 photo of church exterior.