OUR MCMANIS ORGAN
In 1976, it was determined that the current church organ, which had been in service since 1942, was in need of replacement. Money was raised through memorials and pledges to purchase an organ that would meet the current worship needs of the church.

An Organ Committee raised money, studied organs, did an “organ crawl” to Kansas City and selected the McManis Organ company, established in 1939, to build our organ. According to the Dedication program, Charles McManis was probably “the first of a new breed of musically-trained organist/organ builders.” McManis “reasoned that the age-old search throughout organ building history as been a search for power and color….He discovered that classic ensemble “corroborating stops” knit into much tighter, richer sound, if foundation voices have harmonic content to corroborate. He found, too, that harmonically rich sounds seem to fill a room, wall-to-wall, and thereby project music’s dissonances and their resolutions as intimate audio-physical experience, regardless of dynamic level. This, after all, is the “stuff of music, whether classic, romantic or contemporary. And what more could one want?”

On January 1, 1978, Frances Yates, who had been Choir Director for most of the church’s history, was given the opportunity to close out the old Burlingame Memorial organ and it was removed from the sanctuary. It was sold to a doctor in Fort Worth for $3,750.

On April 2, 1978, the new McManis Organ was dedicated. This 3 manual (rows of keyboards) organ cost $105,000 and had 39 ranks, 49 stops with 2,226 pipes. Some modification to the church was necessary to accommodate it. Later the Zimblestern, Sesquiltera II and Trompette-en-Chamade stops were added to the organ.

Over the years, the Bartlesville community has been treated to concerts on the McManis Organ by noted organists. This powerful organ enriches worship at First Presbyterian Church each Sunday.