Saved from the wrecking ball...

[KB7DQH]

Pipe organ at First Christian Church disassembled for relocation to new church home


Dave Cording of Hebron, Neb., hands an organ pipe to Stephen Wittman of Vancouver, British Columbia, while removing the organ for shipping at First Christian Church on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

CEDAR RAPIDS — The 1966 Wicks Organ Company pipe organ from the First Christian Church in Cedar Rapids is on its way to storage, and eventually a new church home in the Kansas City area, after being taken apart piece by piece this week.

More than 1,900 pipes make up the organ, and because no assembly instructions exist, each piece is being carefully documented so the instrument can be reconfigured during installation at its new church.

Stephen Wittman, owner of Contemporary and Classic Church Organs in Kansas City, Mo., said the process is "like taking apart a jigsaw puzzle that doesn't have any pictures on it, and then we have to put the numbers in place so that somebody at the other end can then take that and put it all back together."

Only the mechanical relay and memory system will not be salvaged; they'll be replaced with a more reliable computer switching system.

The largest pipe is 16 feet long, and the smallest is about the size of a pencil. Each section is in almost-new condition and was crafted by hand in the 1960s for Wicks in Highland, Ill.

While Wicks Organ Company is still in business*, many other organ builders have gone out of business, so this is a rare opportunity for the church that will be receiving the organ. A new instrument of this size would cost more than three-quarters of a million dollars.

The First Christian Church building, 840 Third Ave. SE. in downtown Cedar Rapids, has been purchased by St. Luke's Hospital and will be demolished this spring. In its place will be a parking lot for the forthcoming Physicians' Clinic of Iowa medical pavilion.

Windows, pews, the altar, marble and other elements of the former church also will be salvaged for other buildings before the structure is demolished.