Bethel A.M.E. Church - New York City (photo: Byron Company, 1897)
 
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  Bethel A.M.E. Church - New York City (photo: Byron Company, 1897)
 
239 West 25th Street (1897)
First Free-Will Baptist Church

251 West 25th Street, between 7th & 8th Avenues
New York, N.Y. 10001


Organ Specifications:
251 West 25th Street, between 7th & 8th Avenues (1878-1895)
• II/23 George Jardine & Son (c.1878)
17th Street, near Sixth Avenue (1866-1878)
► II/13 Hall & Erben (1825) – orig. in St. Thomas Epis.; moved from St. Clement Epis. (1866)
20th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues (in 1858)
• unknown
151 Sullivan Street (in 1853 & 1855)
• unknown



The First Free-Will Baptist Church was chartered in 1850. The society was known to worship at 151 Sullivan Street in 1863 and 1855, after which they were on West 20th Street, between Sixth & Seventh Avenues. Following the Civil War, the church was located on 17th Street, near Sixth Avenue, from 1866 until 1878.

In 1878, the congregation erected a new Gothic Revival building on West 25th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. They remained there until March 1895, when the building was sold to the First A.M.E. Bethel Church. The remaining congregation worshipped thereafter in the Grand Opera House. At some point, the church was disbanded.
               
  George Jardine & Sons organ (ca.1894) in Bethel A.M.E. Church - New York City (photo: Byron Company, 1897)
  View of Jardine Organ (Byron Company, 1897)
George Jardine & Son
New York City (1878)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 23 stops


The organ in church on West 25th Street was built by George Jardine & Son of New York City, and was probably contemporary with the opening of the building in 1878. The two-manual organ had 23 stops and was located in the rear gallery, as seen in the 1897 photo above. Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.
               
Organ in church located on 17th Street, near Sixth Avenue:

Hall & Erben
New York City (1825) – acquired (1866)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 16 registers, 13 stops, 13 ranks, 604 pipes


John Pintard, a chief supporter of the General Theological Seminary and founder of the American Bible Society, wrote a letter to his daughter in which he mentioned attending a service at St. Clement's Church, and that the organ recently installed there had previously been used in St. Thomas Church. This organ was built by Hall & Erben in 1825 was used as a rental instrument and was sold to St. Clement's Church in 1831; it was later sold to the Free-Will Baptist Church in 1866.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 58 notes [G (no G#), A to f''']
8
   Open Diapason
58
2 2/3
   Twelfth
58
8
   Stop Diapason
58
2
   Fifteenth
58
4
   Principal
58
8
   Cremona [TF]
37
4
   Flute
58
        
               
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes [G (no G#), A to f'''], enclosed
8
   Open Diapason [TF]
37
8
   Dulciana [TF]
37
8
   St. Diapason Bass
21
4
   Principal [TF]
37
8
   St. Diapason Treble [TF]
37
8
   Trumpet [TF]
37

 

 

     
Pedal Organ – 17 notes [GG (no GG#), AA to C], 13 pipes
16
   Double Open Diapason
13
        
               
Couplers
    Great Organ to Swell    
    Great Organ to Pedals    
               
Sources:
     Boston Organ Club Newsletter? (date unknown). Specifications of Henry Erben Organ (1831) - actually the Hall & Erben Organ (1825) as installed in the Free-Will Baptist Church. Courtesy Larry Trupiano.
     "Charges Against Pastor," The New York Times (Nov. 21, 1897).

Illustrations:
     Byron Company (New York, N.Y.). 1897 photos of Bethel A.M.E. Church (built as First Free-Will Baptist) of exterior; interior; gallery showing George Jardine & Son organ (c.1878).