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St. Paul's Lutheran Church was organized in 1852. A foot operated "reed" organ was used up until 1948 when the Reuter #822 pipe organ was installed. #822 was built in 1948 by the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrance, Kansas, and installed at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, located in the country, 6 miles north of Cortland, Indiana. (the commonly used name by members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church is "Borchers", Pastor Borcher was the first pastor of the church in the mid 1800's).
The first organist to play this organ was the mother of Harlan Dringenburg, followed by Harlan himself. Harlan was the organist for most of the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's, followed by Olga Otte who was the last organist to play on this organ in regular church service in the fall of 2003.
The organ performed for the church well for all services, weddings, funerals and other events.
The organ was well maintained and in complete working order up until around 2000, when various pipes begin to fail to sound, presumeably due to the leathers in the airchest underneath the pipes beginning show the affects of 50 years of heavy use, and the congregation decided to replace the 822. The pipe organ itself has been preserved (see below for more information on the preservation).

Photograph - May 2005

Reuter Organ Company, Opus #822, Lawrence, Kansas, 1948
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