There has been some discussion on one of the Facebook player piano
groups about the large Welte Brisgovia orchestrion that had been
displayed at the Smithsonian's re-creation of the Philadelphia 1876
Exposition. I believe it was on loan to the Smithsonian by owner
Bob Johnson of Rossville, Georgia.

The orchestrion was originally installed in the mansion, "Heart's
Delight Cottage", of William H. Miner who acquired a fortune having
invented a spring coupler pocket for use on railroad freight cars.
Bob had acquired the orchestrion from a gentleman (I believe he
was a local radio station personality) who lived in the Chazy, New
York, area, who managed to save the instrument in the nick of time
as the mansion was being torn down.

I saw the Welte in Bob's shop in Georgia and took photos of it
as well as making a recording of it. (I no longer have the photos,
nor the recording). Bob was a historian, collector, restorer and
dealer in mechanical antiques, with a primary focus on antique
machinery, steam engines and steam locomotives. I was at the time
working for a wealthy Chicago collector who collected full size steam
locomotives. I believe Bob sold the orchestrion to Burton Burton of
the Casablanca Fan Company. After Burton's death it was sold to Bob
Gilson who had a reproduction case built for it.

In it's original location in the Heart's Delight Cottage, the
orchestrion was installed in a hallway with removable wall sections
that held swell shades. The orchestrion chest with it's pipes was
enclosed in a canvas enclosure with a slanted top that also held swell
shades.

Through my own research I contacted the William H. Miner Agricultural
Research Institute in Chazy, New York, and inquired if they might have
photos of the orchestrion. They have a large archive of the history
of the Institute and William Miner and they turned up a number of
photos of the orchestrion in the mansion.

By the way, Mr. Miner established a very large modern progressive
farm which attracted people from all over the world who came to Chazy
to see the modern farming techniques that were being implemented there.
Mr. Miner built a large guest "cottage" (really a hotel) for the
visitors called "Harmony Hall".

William Miner apparently had a soft spot for Welte instruments.
Besides the orchestrion in the mansion, there was a Welte Philharmonic
pipe organ in the auditorium of Harmony Hall. Mr. Miner was also
responsible for the Chazy Rural School which had in its auditorium
a very large Welte Philharmonic pipe organ. A portion of the organ
console containing the player spoolbox as well as the rolls were
salvaged as the school was being torn down which I now have.

The big Deagan tower chimes from the school clock tower are now part
of the Carma Labs Symphonic pipe organ outside of Milwaukee. Mr. Miner
also provided a Welte player organ for the local Chazy Presbyterian
Church. The organ still exists, but unfortunately some parts of the
player system were destroyed. He also had one of the very tall case
Steinway-Welte Mignon pianos, which the Institute still has and hopes
to eventually have restored.

I provided some of the photos of the orchestrion I received from the
Miner Institute to Art Reblitz who passed them on to Bob Gilson.

Dave Krall
Hammond, Indiana

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