Schuelke Organ Company

Pipework of the Schuelke Organ at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, Ashland, Wisconsin. The organ was installed in 1904 and remains mostly original.

The Schuelke Organ Company was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based pipe organ builder. Schuelke Organs operated in the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

William Schuelke was a Prussian immigrant who came to the United States in 1874. Schuelke's contributions to organ building included inventing the electric motor powered bellows crank, for which he received a patent. This was a major improvement over existing hand-cranked bellows.

The Schuelke Organ Company ceased operations in the early 20th century. Today, few of the organs his company produced exist intact. The pipe organs at the following churches have remained intact and, except for an electric blower, have remained basically unaltered.

A yearly free organ recital is held at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Milwaukee on the first Sunday of November to showcase their 1885 Schuelke pipe organ.

Locations with a Schuelke organ

• Bethany Lutheran Church, Ishpeming, Michigan
• Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Mecan, Wisconsin
• First Presbyterian Church, Leadville, Colorado
• Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, Ashland, Wisconsin
• Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Saint Anthony of Padua Church, St. Louis, Missouri
• Saint Boniface Church (New Vienna, Iowa)
• Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Milwaukee
• Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Columbus, Ohio
• St. Mary's Catholic Church, Remsen, Iowa
• Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Milwaukee
• First Lutheran Church, Middleton, Wisconsin

External links

• Schuelke organs in the Organ Historical Society Database
• Recording and program of an event on the New Vienna organ
• Schuelke Organ at St. Mary's, Remsen Iowa, rebuilt by Dobson Organ Co.