Division Street United Church, Music      

Division Street United Church is indeed blessed to have a wonderful pipe organ in the church sanctuary. Built by Casavant Freres  of St Hyacinthe, Quebec, the present organ is a blend and expansion of two  previous instruments. It is the most complete pipe organ in the Grey-Bruce  area.
The first pipe organ was installed in this church in 1891 by the Matthews  Organ Company of Hamilton. Someone at the time said "I will not be content  until we have a $10,000 church and a $1000 organ!" Both goals were reached  and surpassed, giving Owen Sound a beautiful building for public worship services with the accompaniment of a fine pipe organ for over 55 years.

In 1946 the church decided to fund the replacement of the old Matthews. For a cost of $16,700, Casavant was contracted to build a 3 manual instrument  of mostly new pipework and a new console. The instrument, Casavant's Opus  2006, was completed in 1950. In the early 1980s, the organ was enlarged to  its present specifications.

There are more than 1,500 pipes controlled by a console with three manuals  (keyboards). Each keyboard and the pedalboard has its own family of sounds.  Any of these sounds can be played individually or in any combination. There  are 76 separate controls, 36 of which are called "stops", or sounds, available  to the organist. The other controls, called "couplers" allow the keyboards  to be combined and played on one keyboard when necessary. There are also push buttons ("pistons") which permit the player to instantly program the sounds needed at any time.

The attractive screen in front of the pipe chambers is carved oak with 9 decorative pipes. The pipe chambers are raised well above the console to  allow the organ to project its magnificent sounds into the sanctuary.

The organ is in four divisions located in three separate rooms of pipes.  Two are under expression, meaning the organist can control the volume of those divisions. The centre division, called the Great organ, is in the middle and is situated about 5 feet higher than the other two divisions.

The organ works on what is called an "electro-pneumatic" system, meaning  the organ works on electricity and air pressure.

    The replacement cost for an equivalent instrument today   would be over $750,000. The congregation of Division Street United Church   maintains and protects this wonderful instrument so it will enhance and continue  to be the heartbeat of our music for many years to come.

Three manuals Four Divisions                Electro pneumatic action              1,500 pipes
GREAT ORGAN (middle keyboard)       CHOIR ORGAN                             (bottom keyboard)


Principal 8'                                                                Doppelflute                                            8'

Gemshorn 8'                                                             Prestant                                                 4'

Bourdon 8'                                                                 Nazard                                                    2  2/3'

Principal 4'                                                                Tierce                                                     13/5'

  Flute 4'                                                                    Krummhorn                                               8'

Mixture IV 1 1/3'       

Fifteenth 2'       

SWELL ORGAN (top keyboard)                   PEDAL ORGAN   

Stopped Diapason 8'                                                Open Diapason                                        16'

Voix Angelica 8'                                                        Bourdon                                                   16'

Viola da Gamba 8'                                                    Open Diapason                                          8'

Principal 4'                                                                Stopped Diapason                                     8'

Harmonic Flute 4'                                                    Octave                                                        4'

Piccolo 2'                                                                    Trombone                                                16'

Mixture III       

Nazard 2 2/3'       

Quint Flute 1 1/3'       

Trumpet 8'       


Vox Humana    8' Oboe 8' Fagott 16'