Wheels o’ Time Museum
Dunlap, Illinois
This single manual and pedal instrument was purchased by the congregation of Zum Krippelein Christi (at the Cradle of Christ) Lutheran Church in 1907 for $478. Situated in the bucolic scenery of Dodge County, Wisconsin, this congregation was founded in 1849 and was one of several in the area where services were conducted primarily in German. In 2017, the congregation disbanded and vacated the building.
This 1907 Hinners organ is an unaltered example of a stock model instrument that they offered for sale through their mail-order catalogues. All of the manual stops are divided, such that the bass and treble ends may be drawn independently and two different sounds played on the same keyboard.
The last remaining members of the congregation were determined to find a home for this organ. The Wheels O’ Time Museum of Dunlap, Illinois stepped forward to acquire this instrument to be restored and installed as a functional exhibit. This acquisition brings the organ a mere twenty-three miles north of Pekin where the Hinners factory stood and where this instrument was manufactured.
We have removed this organ from its original home and have begun restoration work including:
- Re-bushing the keyboard.
- Re-leathering the bellows.
- Washing and re-leathering pipes as needed.
- Cleaning all case pieces.
