American Theatre Organ Society

From an article by Douglas Marion in the Winter 1960 issue of Theatre Organ

Frederick W. Smith at a Smith unit organ

Frederick W. Smith established The Smith Organ Co., Inc. at North Tonawanda, New York, in 1912. His product was "The Smith Orchestral Organ." From that date on, the chronological development of the Smith Organ is both complex and interesting, taking on many names in combination with "Smith."

Frederick Smith was an organ builder in 1892 when he met Robert Hope-Jones in England. They combined forces at the Birkenhead shop, and in 1903, Smith came to America where he associated himself with Ernest M. Skinner as a designer.

Robert Hope-Jones said of his friend and collaborator, "The man at the head of our building department is Mr. F. W. Smith. There is not a more skilled or scientific organ builder in America. Mr. Smith has been closely, associated with me for many years."

It was Frederick Smith who first conceived the horseshoe-shaped console arrangement of stop tabs in 1905.

The largest Smith organ was in the Forest Hill Theatre, Long Island City, New York

In 1917, Smith combined forces with the J. P. Seeburg Company and the plant was moved to Chicago under the Seeburg-Smith name. Then in 1922, Seeburg's interest was purchased by Mr. Harry Hogan, and the operation was moved to Geneva, Illinois. It was then that the instruments became known as Geneva-Smith Unit Organs.

Smith separated himself from this partnership after a few years and moved to California in November of 1923. He established the Smith Organ Company in Alameda, assuming the original company name for the operation. Some of the organs produced in Alameda by Smith were sold by the Leatherby Company of San Francisco, and these were known as Leatherby-Smith Organs.

Smith's son Charles joined the company at the Alameda location in 1924, forming a partnership under the name "F. W. Smith and Son." There the operation continued until the company ceased activity entirely in 1928. Frederick Smith, founder of the company, died in 1948.

A Smith pit organ on a piano console

The Smith organ construction practices remained constant over the years, even though business relationships changed. The chests were built with a side-mounted pneumatic which opened the pipe valve on the old Roosevelt chest pattern. Small chests holding one rank were commonly used and three ranks was the maximum size built. Organs for theatres were built with relay and chest primaries, and those for churches were built without primaries. The price differential was about 10%.

Pipes were never manufactured by this firm. Reed pipes were purchased from Gottfied and flues were obtained from Samuel Pierce (later known as Dennison) in Reading, Massachusetts. Percussions were from Lyon & Healy, Deagan, and Kehler. Smith's actual construction was focused on consoles, relays, chests, reservoirs, actions, and other appurtenances.

A curious feature of Smith organs was that stop tabs were arranged by family -- that is, Bourdon 16', Flute 8', Flute 4', Twelfth 2-2/3', Piccolo 2' -- with strings or reeds following the same sequence, rather than traditional groupings that keep all 8' stops together, followed by 4' foot stops, etc.

About 1000 instruments were made and sold by Smith's various companies, and most were theatre organs. Long after the manufacturing operations in California had ceased, Charles Smith rebuilt many organs in the San Francisco Bay Area. For many years he continued to make switches, valves, pneumatics, and relay parts for Smith organs.