DeWitt Clinton High School - Bronx, New York

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DeWitt Clinton High School

100 West Mosholu Parkway South (since 1928)
The Bronx, N.Y. 10468
http://www.dwchs.org

Organ Specifications:
100 West Mosholu Parkway South – Bronx (since 1928)
► III/31 Estey Organ Company, Op. 2936 (1931)
Tenth Avenue and 59th Street – Manhattan (1897-1928)
• III/ W. W. Kimball Co., KPO 670 (1906); reb. William R. Laws

The history of DeWitt Clinton High School begins in 1897, with the opening of Boys' High School on the top floor of Public School 35 at 60 West 13th Street in Manhattan.


DeWitt Clinton High School in Manhattan

In 1900, the school was renamed for DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828), who had been governor of New York State, a U.S. Senator, the Mayor of New York City, and a builder of the Erie Canal. In 1906, nine years after its founding, the school moved to a newly constructed building on Tenth Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets. DeWitt Clinton remained at this location until 1928, after which other public schools occupied its space. In the 1980s, the interior was gutted and renovated, and is today one of the building of the John Jay College for Criminal Justice, a part of the City University of New York.

In 1929, the noise of midtown Manhattan was exchanged for a 21-acre campus on Mosholu Parkway in the Bedfork Park section of the Bronx, where the school is presently located. An all-boys school until 1983, DeWitt Clinton spent much of the 20th century as the largest high school in the world, with the enrollment peaking in the 1930s at 12,000 students. The school has never had an entrance exam. In fact, it wears as a badge of honor its commitment to educate all of America’s children.

Estey Organ Company
Brattleboro, Vt. – Opus 2936 (1931)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 49 registers, 31 stops, 31 ranks

In the Great Depression year of 1931, the Estey Organ Company received a welcome and very large contract for seven identical organs to be installed in New York City high schools. The $168,000 contract made the average cost of each organ $24,000. Each organ was equipped with a three-manual console that included ivory keys and an automatic roll-player.

These organs were installed in Jamaica High School (Op. 2932), Far Rockaway High School (Op. 2933), and Richmond Hill High School (Op. 2938) in Queens; Theodore Roosevelt High School (Op. 2934), James Monroe High School (Op. 2935), and DeWitt Clinton High School (Op. 2936) in The Bronx; and the New York Training School for Teachers (Op. 2937), later the High School of Musical Art, in Manhattan.

The Estey organ installed in DeWitt Clinton High School is no longer playable. Its console has been removed, and there is considerable damage to the pipes in the chambers.

Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed with Choir (6" pressure)

1st Open Diapason (Heavy)

Fifteenth *

2nd Open Diapason

1 1/3

Nineteenth *

Doppel Flute

Mixture III ranks [draws * stops]

Concert Flute

Tuba [10" pressure]

Gamba

Tromba (fr. 16')

—

Dulciana

Clarion (fr. 16')

—

Harmonic Flute

Tremolo

Octave

Harp (TC)

—

2 2/3

Twelfth *

Celesta

61 bars

Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed (6" pressure)

Lieblich Gedeckt

Oboe (synthetic)

—

Horn Diapason

Waldhorn

Stopped Flute

Cornopean

—

Viol d'Orchestra

Clarion

—

Viol Celeste

Vox Humana [sep. trem. & box]

Aeoline

Tremolo

Traverse Flute

Harp

Violino

Celesta

Flautino

Mixture III *

* 12th & 15th from Flautino; ind. Tierce

Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed (6" pressure)

Contra Dulciana

Piccolo

Geigen Principal

Clarinet

Concert Flute

English Horn

Dulciana (fr. 16')

—

Tremolo

Unda Maris

Harp

Harmonic Flute

Celesta

Pedal Organ – 32 notes

Acoustic Bass

—

Major Flute (fr. Op. Diap.)

—

Open Diapason

Flute (fr. Bourdon)

—

Bourdon

Dulciana

Lieblich Gedeckt

Trombone

Contra Dulciana

Tromba

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8', 4'

Swell to Choir 16', 8', 4'

Swell to Pedal 8', 4'

Great 16', 4', Unison Off

Choir to Pedal 8', 4'

Swell 16', 4', Unison Off

Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'

Choir 16', 4' Unison Off

Choir to Great 16', 8', 4'

Adjustable Combinations

Swell & Pedal	Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6 (thumb) *
Great & Pedal	Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6 (thumb) *
Choir & Pedal	Pistons 1-2-3-4-5 (thumb) *
Pedal & its couplers	Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb)
Full Organ	Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb & toe)
	* double-touch brings on Pedal stops

Reversibles

Great to Pedal (hand and foot)

Choir to Pedal (hand and foot)

Swell to Pedal (hand and foot)

All Swells to Swell

Pedal Movements

Balanced Swell Pedal

Crescendo Pedal with indicator

Balanced Great & Choir Pedal

Sforzando Pedal with indicator

W. W. Kimball Co.
Chicago, Ill. – KPO 670 (1906)
Tubular-pneumatic action; reb. William R. Laws
3 manuals

The organ in the original DeWitt Clinton High School Auditorium in Manhattan was built in 1906 by the W. W. Kimball Co. of Chicago. This was the third concert organ ordered from Kimball by the Board of Education of New York City; the other two were in the Girls' High School, Brooklyn, and in Morris High School in the Bronx. Installed at the rear of the stage, the organ case was finished in white and had a facade with five sections of gold pipes. A detached, panelled console was located on the main floor in front of the stage and faced the conductor. At a later date, the organ was rebuilt by William R. Laws, who installed electro-pneumatic action to control 31 stops on three manuals and pedal. Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.

Sources:
     Bernard Herrmann Society website: http://www.bernardherrmann.org
     Carnahan, John. Factory Shop Order for Estey Organ, Op.2936 (1931).
     Estey Pipe Organ website: www.esteyorgan.com.
     DeWitt Clinton Alumni Association website: http://www.dewittclintonalumni.com/

Illustrations:
     Estey Pipe Organ website. Undated exterior of present school in the Bronx.
     Glück, Sebastian. Interior showing W.W. Kimball organ, KPO 670 (1906) in Manhattan auditorium.
     Wurts Bros (New York, N.Y.). Photo (c.1900) of DeWitt Clinton High School in Manhattan. Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

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