100 YEARS OF GRANDEUR
Our amazing Music Hall celebrates centennial

By Chris Young
MethuenLife Writer

On Dec. 9, 1909, Methuen philanthropist Edward F. Searles invited 250 guests to a private concert in his new Serlo Organ Hall at 192 Broadway, Methuen.
Internationally renowned organist Everett E. Truette entertained the guests on the E.F. Walcker organ, the first concert organ in America which was built for the Boston Music Hall. Searles had hired Henry Vaughn, the country's most famous church architect, to design and build the ornate Serlo Organ Hall specifically to house the organ he had purchased at auction for $1,500.
Move forward 100 years to Sept. 25, 2009.
That's when Trustees of MMMH will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Searles inaugural concert with a weekend of spectacular organ concerts and a gala dinner.
This time, the public is invited to all events.
In fact, since the Music Hall no longer has a wealthy sponsor like Mr. Searles, the nonprofit MMMH counts on public support to maintain the unique organ and hall.
“We're calling it the Methuen Memorial Music Hall Second Century Fund,” said Carol Dixon, an organist, member of the Board of Trustees and chairwoman of the centennial celebration. “It's a fund-raiser and a look back over the past century of events in the hall.”
The centennial dinner will include concerts by famous organists, talks by local historians Barbara Owen and Len Levasseur, and a $100-a-plate dinner featuring keynote speaker Michael Barone, host of “Pipedreams,” a weekly American Public Media radio program about the world of pipe organs. Dixon said centennial celebrations will continue into 2013.
Despite the elaborate preparations for the centennial celebration, the traditional Wednesday night summer organ concerts will go on as scheduled. See www.mmmh.org for a listing of 15 concerts this summer. Admission is a mere $10 per concert.
The hall survives because of the dedication of a diverse group of trustees who schedule concerts by illustrious and less well-known organists throughout the year. Two concerts a year benefit the high school scholarship fund.
“There is a lot of committee youth outreach,” said trustee Barbara Owen. “We give two scholarships a year to Merrimack Valley high school seniors who have been accepted as music majors in some college.
“And all fourth-graders from Methuen schools come to the hall for a field trip once a year, then they write about it and send us letters,” Owen said. “We love the letters and post them for all to read. One of the most frequently used words in the letters is 'awesome.' ”
The hall is also a popular place for weddings and music recordings. Musicians delight in the unique acoustics and 3-foot-thick walls that offer sound-proofing, perfect for recording music from a quieter era.
“It is a labor of love,” said Owen of keeping the hall alive.
Owen is an organist and musicologist from Newburyport who, in addition to playing the Music Hall organ for weddings, is the unofficial historian of MMMH. She and Trustee Len Levasseur will entertain dinner guests at the centennial gala Sept. 25 with an illustrated history of the hall.
“All the Trustees offer different talents, different interests. But we are all dedicated and we are all music lovers, although there are only six professional musicians among the trustees,” Owen said.
Board President Edward J. Sampson Jr. added that all 30 board members are volunteers: “We are a nonprofit with no paid employees. And unlike the Boston Symphony, we have no millionaires on our board. Most people give sweat equity, not large amounts of money.”
The hall's modern history is as interesting as the early history of the organ and hall.
When Searles died in 1920 at the age of 79, he bequeathed the organ and hall to his confidential secretary, Arthur Thomas Walker, who passed it on when he died, to his niece, Ian McDachan of Detroit, Mich.
In 1930, Mrs. Lillian Andrew, wife of a Methuen businessman and Lawrence banker, bought the Walker estate which included the organ hall.
In 1931, American organ builder Ernest M. Skinner acquired the title to the hall and surrounding properties. He later formed the Ernest M. Skinner and Son Company to manufacture organs. By 1942, the business had slowed and Essex Savings Bank acquired title to the properties by auction.
The Methuen Historical Society gives credit for saving the Serlo organ and hall to Methuen textile manufacturer Alfred C. Gaunt. According to Robert Reich, the longest serving board member and former employee of the Andover Organ Co., Gaunt had a lot of help from the Rev. Theophilus Ringmuth, pastor of the Forest Street Church, and Arthur Howes, a well-known church organist. In 1946, the trio formed a nonprofit corporation — the Memorial Music Hall Inc. — with the intention of creating a cultural center in Methuen, a tradition that continues into the 21st century.
Today, many Merrimack Valley residents would shudder if they knew how close they came to losing this unique cultural treasure created by the elegant and generous Edward Searles. The biggest threat came before the Gaunt committee bought the complex.
“Someone wanted to turn the hall into a roller-skating rink and sell the pipes to a junk dealer,” Reich remembers.

CENTENNIAL WEEKEND EVENTS

• German to perform: Friday, Sept. 25, 8 p.m. Felix Hell, 22-year-old German organ virtuoso, in recital. Tickets, $20.
• Organ demonstration for young people: Saturday, Sept. 26, 10 to 11:30 am. Dr. David F. Gallagher is organist and presenter. Free.
• Open demonstration for adults: Saturday, Sept. 26, 1 to 2:30 pm. Douglas Major is organist and presenter. Free.
• Gala Five-Course Centennial Dinner: Saturday, Sept. 27, 7:30 pm. Speaker is Michael Barone of American Public Media’s “Pipedreams” radio show. Special guest organist is conductor and music educator Peter Krasinski. Historian Barbara Owen will present an illustrated history of the MMMH. $100 (advance reservation).
• An afternoon of light classic music on the Great Organ: Sunday, Sept. 27, 3 pm. Tickets $20. Organists Barbara Burns, of Christ Church in Andover; Ray Cornils, municipal organist at Portland Memorial Auditorium; Brian Jones, emeritus director of music at Trinity Church, Boston; and Douglas Major with trumpeter Richard Watson and harmonica player Will Pirone.

For tickets or info on any of the above events, call David Dixon at (781) 593-5039.