Puritan Church (Congregational) - Brooklyn, N.Y. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1906)
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Puritan Church
(Congregational)

Lafayette Avenue, corner Marcy Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11216

Organ Specifications:
Lafayette Avenue at Marcy Avenue (1870-?)
• II/ Reuben Midmer & Sons (1892)
► II/24 Edwin L. Holbrook (1871)
DeKalb Avenue at Walworth Street (1864-1870)
• unknown


The Puritan Church began in December 1863, when a few of the teachers of the Wallabout Presbyterian Church decided to form a new school that might become the nucleus of a church. A store at No. 712 Myrtyle Avenue was rented for one year, beginning in January 1864, and soon the sabbath school had grown in numbers. On March 28, 1864, it was resolved to organize a Congregational church, to be known as The East Brooklyn Congregational Church, and on July 17th the church was officially founded. In October, a plot of land at the corner of DeKalb Avenue and Walworth Street was leased for ten years, and a church building was erected at a cost of $4,000. The name "Puritan Church" was adopted on June 27, 1865.

The second Puritan Church building was at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Marcy Avenue, with the cornerstone being laid on July 18, 1869. As designed by E.T. Potter, the new church, which measured 170 feet by 95 feet, included the main auditorium, lecture room, sabbath school room, parlors, pastor's study room, etc. The exterior was of brownstone and Ohio light stone, and cost $40,000.

In 1924, the congregation merged or disbanded and the building was sold to St. Augustine Protestant Episcopal Church. The building burned in 1969.
           
Reuben Midmer & Sons
Brooklyn, N.Y. (1892)
2 manuals


In 1892, Reuben Midmer & Sons of Brooklyn rebuilt the old organ, as reported in The Musical Courier (Jan. 25, 1893):

"Over $1200 were spent last summer in rebuilding the organ by Midmer Brothers [sic], of Brooklyn and it is literally new all but the case."

Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.
           
Edwin L. Holbrook
East Medway, Mass. (1871)
 Mechanical action
2 manuals, 23 stops, 24 ranks


This organ, built in 1871 by E. L. Holbrook, was said to have a case designed after the one in Wells Cathedral in England.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 58 notes
16
   Tenoroon Diapason [TC]
46
4
   Octave
58
8
   Open Diapason
58
4
   Wald Flute [TC]
46
8
   Clarabella [TC]
46
2
   Super Octave
58
8
   Stopped Diapason Bass
12
  Sesquialtera, 3 ranks
174
8
   German Gamba
58
8
   Trompet
58
8
   Dulciana [TC]
46
8
   Clarionett [TC]
46
 
   
 
   
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes, enclosed
16
  Bourdon Treble [TC]
46
4
   Flute Harmonique [TC]
46
16
   Bourdon Bass
12
  Mixture, 2 ranks
116
8
  Open Diapason
58
8
   Hautboy [TC]
46
8
   Stopped Diapason
58
8
   Bassoon Bass
12
8
   Salicional
58
  Tremulant
4
   Principal
58
     
 
   
 
   
Pedal Organ – 27 notes
16
   Sub Bass ("large scale")
27
        
16
   Violoncello Bass
27
        
             
Couplers
    Swell to Great          
    Swell to Pedal          
    Great to Pedal          
               
Composition Pedals
1.
   Bring on all Great stops
2.
   Take off all stops but the Great Diapason
               
Mechanical Accessories
    Tremulant          
    Pedal Check    
    Engine          
           
Sources:
     "Hopelessly in Debt," The New York Times (Feb. 21, 1877).
     The Musical Courier (Jan. 25, 1893). Article about organ being rebuilt by R. Midmer & Sons. Courtesy Larry Trupiano.
     Owen, Barbara. The Organ in New England: An Account of Its Use and Manufacture to the End of the Nineteenth Century. Raleigh: The Sunbury Press, 1979. Specification of Edwin L. Holbrook Organ (1871).
     "Puritan Church, Brooklyn," The New York Times (Oct. 4, 1868).
     Stiles, Henry Reed. History of the City of Brooklyn: Including the Old Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and the Village and City of Williamsburgh. Brooklyn: pub. by subscription, 1863.
     Webber, F.R. "Organ scrapbook" at Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, N.J. Specification of Edwin L. Holbrook Organ (1871). Courtesy Jonathan Bowen.

Illustration:
     Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection. Exterior (1906).