In order to get a photo for my friends at GIA Publications, we went to Rhea’s Antique Pump Organs in Sharon Springs, Kan.
Dick Rhea restores organs and has preserved some of them in his museum. Before electricity came into people’s homes, the family organ was the sole entertainment machine. Many of them, including the one above, had either pedestals for lanterns or had them built in. That way, the family could gather around the organ and sing after the chores were done and the sun had set.
(When power finally came, the chore my grandmother was happiest to leave behind was the constant cleaning of lantern chimneys and trimming of their wicks.)
This building is full — and I mean full — of pump organs. You can see how close these pump organs are together in this picture. The main room and several smaller ones off that room are all full of organs.
Dick does not collect or restore pianos. This pie organ is as close to a piano as he gets. The pie organ was meant to be quite a bit like a piano, probably in order to capture people who might want to play the organ as well.
He also has a couple of these crank organs. A crank organ operates rather like a player piano. To hear music, put a roll (called a cob) in the part that looks rather like an apple corer and turn the crank. Instead of the punched paper that a player piano uses, the cobs have little pins that open and close the valves. For a better explanation, go here.
Furniture just isn’t made like this any more.
These details are gorgeous.
This quality of wood is hard to find also.
These organists are definitely more coordinated than I am. A keyboard, foot pedals and knee levers would be more than I could handle. The knees controlled the organ’s volume.
If this pedal had an “of” between the “Full” and “Organ”, it would be a perfect description of Rhea’s Antique Pump Organs. This is not one of those “don’t breathe on me” museums. Organists who visit are invited to play them.
Museum is located on 117 N. Main Street, Sharon Springs, KS 67758. Hours are from 1-4:30 Sunday afternoons or by appointment. To reach Sharon Springs, go 30 miles south from Goodland at I-70’s Exit 17 on Highway 27. K-27 is Main Street in Sharon Springs.
Here are all my pictures from Rhea’s:
Please buy one if you like them.





































