Kings Highway United Methodist Church - Brooklyn, N.Y.
 
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Kings Highway United Methodist Church

1387 East 37th Street at Kings Highway
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11210
www.khumchurch.org/

Organ Specifications:
1387 East 37th Street at Kings Highway (since 1925)
► II/10 Kilgen Organ Company, Op. 7319 (1948)
• unknown (1923)
Mill Lane (now Flatlands Ave. at E. 40th St.) (1851-1925)
• unknown

Flatlands Methodist Episcopal Church - Flatlands, L.I. (Eugene L. Armbruster, 1923. NY Historical Society)  
1923 photo of original 1851 building  
The congregation known today as Kings Highway United Methodist Church was founded in 1850 as the Methodist Episcopal Church of Flatlands. During its first year the society met in the school house of District No. 1. In 1851 a simple frame building with steeple was erected on Mill lane (now Flatlands Avenue at the corner of East 40th Street). The first minister was the Rev. Thomas H. Burch, who later became presiding elder of the New York District East Conference.

  Proposed Kings Highway Methodist Episcopal Church - Brooklyn, N.Y. (BPL)
  1924 drawing of proposed church
In 1924 the Methodist bishop appointed the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale to be minister of the Flatlands congregation. Newly ordained in 1922, Rev. Peale had served a church in Berkeley, R.I., for one year before his appointment to Brooklyn. At the time the Flatlands church had only forty members, but over the next three years Rev. Peale made personal visits and mailed many postcards to raise funds for a new church that would be built on East 37th Street at Kings Highway. In the process, the membership increased to 900 persons. Upon completion of the church house in 1925, the congregation was renamed Kings Highway Methodist Episcopal Church. The Brooklyn Public Library has an architect's drawing of a proposed sanctuary that seems not to have been built. In 1927, Rev. Peale was appointed to the University Methodist Church of Syracuse, N.Y., and in 1932 he was called to the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, where he served for 52 years.

Today the congregation has a diverse and thriving membership.
               
Kilgen Organ Company
St. Louis, Mo. – Opus 7319 (1948)
Electro-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 17 stops, 10 ranks


A new two-manual organ was built in 1948 by the Kilgen Organ Company of St. Louis, Missouri. On June 21, 1948, The New York Times reported:
Memorial Organ Dedicated
     "A Kilgen pipe organ donated to the Kings Highway Methodist Church at East Thirty-seventh Street, Brooklyn, by Dr. Payne P. Larsen in memory of his wife, Mrs. Marguerite Richardson Larsen, was dedicated yesterday afternoon. A bronze plaque in honor of Mrs. Larsen, who taught at Brooklyn Technical High School, also was unveiled. Dr. Arch Tremayne is pastor of the church and Clifford Troxell is organist."
The following specification was recorded (Feb. 1987) by Larry Trupiano of Brooklyn.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed with Swell
8
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Dolce [ext.]
—
8
   Hohl Flute
61
2 2/3
   Dolce 12th [ext.]
—
8
   Dulciana [unit]
85
2
   Dolce 15th [ext.]
—
4
   Octave
61
1 3/5
   Dolce 17th [ext.]
—
               
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
   Geigen Diapason
73
4
   Harmonic Flute
73
8
  Stopped Flute
73
8
   Trompette
73
8
   Salicional
73
  Tremolo
               
Pedal Organ – 32 notes
16
   Bourdon [unit]
44
8
   Flute [ext.]
—
16
   Lieblich Gedeckt [lo-pressure]
—
8
   Dulciana
GT
               
Couplers
    Swell to Pedal 8'       Great to Great 16, Unison Off, 4
    Great to Pedal 8'       Swell to Swell 16, Unison Off, 4
    Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'          
               
Combination Pistons (mechanical)
   
Swell & Pedal Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb)
Great & Pedal Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb)
 
       
Pedal Movements
    Balanced Great-Swell Pedal   Great to Pedal Reversible
    Crescendo Pedal  
               
Sources:
     "Dr. Peale Accepts Pastorate Here," The New York Times (July 17, 1932).
     Kings Highway United Methodist Church web site: www.khumchurch.org/
     "Memorial Organ Dedicated," The New York Times (June 21, 1948).
     Trupiano, Larry. Specification (Feb. 1987) of Kilgen Organ Company organ (1950s).

Illustration:
     Armbruster, Eugene L. Exterior (1923) of 1851 church building. Eugene L. Armbruster photograph collection, 1894-1939, New-York Historical Society.
     Google Street View. Exterior of present building.