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 (born April 13, 1849 in Konitz, West Prussia as Wilhelm Schülke; died 1902) was a Prussian immigrant who came to the United States in 1866.Schuelke, William. In: Douglas Earl Bush, Richard Kassel: The Organ: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, New York/NY 2006, ISBN 978-0-415-94174-7, p. 499 ff. (Google Books) 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.
A yearly free organ recital is held at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Milwaukee on the first Sunday of November to showcase its 1885 Schuelke pipe organ.
Locations with a Schuelke organ
First Presbyterian Church, Leadville, Colorado John Paul II Roman Catholic Church, Carroll, Iowa Saint Boniface Church, New Vienna, Iowa Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Remsen, Iowa Bethany Lutheran Church, Ishpeming, Michigan Saint Anthony of Padua Church, St. Louis, Missouri St. Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church, Virginia City, Nevada Fourteen Holy Helpers Church, Gardenville, West Seneca, New York Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Columbus, Ohio First Baptist Church, Vermillion, South Dakota Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, Ashland, Wisconsin Ozaukee Congregational Church, Grafton, Wisconsin Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Mecan, Wisconsin First Lutheran Church, Middleton, Wisconsin Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin destroyed by fire, May 15, 2018 First Presbyterian Church, Waunakee, Wisconsin
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