Builder: Barton #275, 1930, Greenbay Orpheum
Information from Wikipedia: The company was founded in 1918 by Dan Barton, who was from
Amherst, Wisconsin. The sixth largest builder of theater instruments
in the nation, Bartola focused almost exclusively on the Midwest
market. Barton later recalled, "We decided to work only a limited
territory so we could give prompt service to all our installations.
[This territory included] Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa,
Indiana and Ohio. No installation was more than an overnight sleeper
ride from Chicago."[1] For this reason, the instruments were almost
unknown outside of this relatively small area until later years,
long after manufacture had ceased, when many were moved from their
original homes into venues around the United States. The company
built about 250 theater organs from 1918 to 1931.[2] |
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