On Sundays and other times, our congregation enjoys the largest pure pipe organ between Chicago and Salt Lake City. With 8,000 pipes, our 126 rank Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ is among the largest instruments in the United States. For comparison purposes: the average church organ is 20-30 rank. Our friends at the Mormon Tabernacle have a 214 rank organ.

When World War II ended, First Baptist Church was eager to order a new organ for it’s new (pre-war 1936) sanctuary. Due to the long waiting list for new construction, the church went ahead with a major rebuilt and enlargement of the three-manual Esty/Skinner organ (c.1926) from the estate of the late Senator Emerson Richards (from New Jersey). Mr. Richards was a famous organ theorist and designer of the Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ, still the largest in the world. Mr. Richards also built the Holland Tunnel in NY. The “reborn” organ was installed in 1951 by Shoenstein and Sons of San Francisco with great fanfare. The organ has electropneumatic console, electropneumatic stop and key action and Reisner combination action. The organ has pipes made in Europe and North America. It seems that Mr. Richards was famous for finding the finest pipes for expansion his organ. In fact, the lower notes on the pedal organ are played through wooden pipes from the 1899 Boston Opera house.