St Mary of the Lake Catholic Church

105 Forestview Lane N
Plymouth, MN 55441


Builder: Wicks Organ Co, Opus 4215, 1962
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 7
Action: Wicks Direct Electric

Notes: David Engen & Associates was contacted about the organ in 2000. It was filled with dead notes and the chambers were littered with broken glass -- the clerestory windows continue into the chambers. The Great is on the left side of the gallery (as you look from below) and the Swell on the other. The return vent for the air conditioning is in the floor under the chests, so when the chamber shades are closed the A/C ceases to work!  The draft created makes tuning difficult. The organ was "resurrected" and made playable (except for returning dead notes). The priest would not let the organist play it, preferring the tiny electronic in the chancel, with short keyboards and one octave of pedals. The organist quit and took another job. The last we heard the Wicks was not being used.

There are 3 ranks on one side and 4 on the other. There is one reed in the Swell. It is a very "backward-looking" stoplist.

In the first picture, the chambers are on either side of the gallery, with the console in the choir loft between. In the second picture, the swell chamber includes the windows against the back wall, under the roof line (disregard the arrow).