THE ESTEY ORGAN, 1931 - 1971
In 1931 the Board of Education commissioned the Estey Organ Company of Vermont to construct and install 7 pipe organs in New York City High Schools at an average cost of $24,000. One of them was installed in Jamaica High School's auditorium.
Pipe rooms were constructed on each side of the stage and the pipes were concealed behind decorative grillwork. An electrically driven air pump was installed in the basement below the stage. Each organ was equipped with an automatic player which enabled the organ to "play itself" from a paper roll so that the instrument could be used effectively even in the absence of a person who could play it. To hear what the JHS organ might have sounded like visit "The Estey Organ. A Virtual Museum." where you will hear a loop of a recording made by Fats Waller (1904 - 1943) of "St. Louis Woman" played on an Estey organ.
The first photo, above, from the 1967 Yearbook, shows the organ console open with Ms Jean Golobin, Chair of the Music Department, seated and ready to play together with the band for an Arista assembly. In addition to regular use in the school's academic and extra-curricular programs the organ was used by community groups, notably the Queens College Choral Society, which staged its holiday "Messiah Concert" in Jamaica's auditorium many times during the '40s and '50s. The next photo, to the left above, from the 1971 Yearbook, shows the organ console closed.
The third photo, from the Estey Organ site, of the identical console installed in Theodore Roosevelt High School, shows more detail. Also note the grillwork just visible in the upper right corner of both photos. (The inscription says: "Congratulations to Estey Organ Company on their new method of visual organ instruction. Fernando Germani.")
In the summer of 1971 some workmen accidentally broke through a wall of one of the piperooms and showered debris down on the pipes, making the organ unplayable. The damage was never repaired. Eventually the pipes were removed from both rooms and the console was discarded. The piperooms are now used for changing rooms for visiting basketball teams. The decorative grillwork remains. The air pump still sits in the basement. (DFJ, November 2007)
Art Serating, Music Teacher, Jamaica High School:
"Sad story. The pipes (located behind the metal grids high up on the wall on either side of the stage) were severely damaged and never repaired when construction was being done on the third floor classrooms (before the mid 70's). Contractors broke through a heavy wall breaking large pieces of concrete and plaster.
"The workers didn't know there were organ pipes behind the wall and they just chopped away allowing thousands of pounds of cement, asbestos and other assorted materials to fall into the tops of many of the pipes, filling them so that air would not move through them as it should. The keyboard on the floor of the auditorium went unused for so long that it became the subject of vandalism and mouse nests. It was removed for 'safety' reasons during the early 90's.
"The last known person to actually play the organ was Music Chairperson Jean Golobin who retired in the early 70's."
Steve Orphanos, Math Teacher, Jamaica High School:
"When I arrived at JHS in the fall of 1962, the organ was indeed playable and there is a vision I have of Jean Golobin sitting at it and playing it. It resounded throughout the school gloriously. Jean wore her hair in a small bun atop her head, and when she sat at the organ, she threw her head back in pride at the sound she was creating. Jean was the vocal music teacher then and for a long time after. She died some years ago at a very advanced age."
Cindy Bell, Queens College Choral Society:
"The nice thing about the QCCS scrapbooks is that there are all kinds of clippings ... that give helpful details about the concerts. That's where I read about the lights going out during one of the early QCCS concerts, and the organist playing Christmas carols on the organ; John Castellini [QCCS founder] kept the audience singing carols until the lights came back on. Can you imagine? I wish I'd been there. This just happens to be one specific reference to the organ that I remember..."
"Queens College Choral Society: A Working Partnership between Community Chorus and College." by Cindy L. Bell:
"The Choral Society’s premiere performance [ -- ] of Handel’s Messiah on Friday, December 19, 1941, - twelve days after the attack on Pearl Harbor - was to a full house. The Long Island Daily Press reported the next day:'More than 150 Queens residents and Queens College students combined their talents last night to make the first joint college-borough musical production a success. Before 1200 in the auditorium of Jamaica High School they presented ‘The Messiah’…the soloists, all given hearty ovations, were recruited from the ranks of the operatic world.'
