PEEKING INTO THE PAST: The Organ of the Opera House

Published 2:46 pm Monday, January 29, 2024

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Upstairs in the Opera House above Starnes Bramlett Jewelers is the wooden panel shown in today’s picture. The words “Estey Organ” can be seen on one side. The panel, believed to be from a crate, is 49 inches high and 34 inches across. Several years ago, I contacted the Estey Organ Museum in Battleboro, Vermont to ask if they had ever seen something like this panel. They shared that even though they had not seen something like this, they did know that up until World War I their organs were shipped by rail. This meant, according to the museum, they would have been shipped in crates that probably would match this panel. We cannot say for certain that an Estey organ was in use in the Opera House during the time shows were performed there (1908 to 1918), but this wooden panel certainly provides compelling evidence that one possibly would have been there. {Lewis Bramlett – Stanly County Historical Society}