Tellers Organ Company, Inc.

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The Tellers Organ Company, Inc. is a manufacturer of pipe organs based out of Erie, Pennsylvania. The company has been in business since 1906, and has produced over 1,100 organs throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

[edit] History

The company was founded by two brothers, Henry and Ignatius Tellers, and William Sommerhof. Prior to this the two Tellers brothers worked at Milwaukee, Wisconsin based Schuelke Organ Company until 1892. They moved to Erie and went to work for the Felgemaker Organ Company for the next 14 years. While at Felgemaker, they met Sommerhof.

In 1906 the three men established Tellers Organ Company. In 1911, the company changed its name to Tellers-Sommerhof Organ Company. Sommerhof would sell his interest in the company to A. E. Kent - another former Felgemaker employee - in 1918. The company's name was then changed to Tellers-Kent Organ Company. Felgemaker also ceased operations that year. Tellers-Kent assumed all the open contracts and service agreement work from Felgemaker. The company was known as Tellers-Kent for a number of years until the name changed back to Tellers Organ Company.

The company would eventually become a pioneer in the combination pipe / electronic organ fields, and would come to produce the Conn-Tellers Electro-Pipe Combination Organ. The company later became an authorized Rogers dealer.

A Tellers-Kent nameplate. This nameplate is on the back of the pipe organ of St. Raphael's Cathedral, Dubuque, Iowa. This plate is from the 1937 installation of the organ.

The family would remain involved with the company, which has continued to the present day. Henry's son Herman eventually took over the business. In 1978 Herman's son Henry Tellers became President of the company.