Levsen Organ Company, Buffalo, Iowa
Notre Dame Catholic Church, Our Lady of the Falls Catholic Community, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
The merging of old and new
The 1974 M. P. Möller Opus 10944 of two manuals, nineteen ranks, came out of the First United Methodist Church in Monmouth, Illinois. That church was demolished, and a new edifice was built. Unfortunately, the new facility did not include space for a pipe organ in its architectural plans. In an effort to save the pipe organ, in 2020 Levsen Organ Company removed the organ from the church, put it in storage, and proceeded to advertise the organ for sale.
In January 2023 our Wisconsin representative Daniel Newman spoke with Notre Dame Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Falls Catholic Community in Chippewa Falls about the Möller, how it might work perfectly for their church, and how Levsen Organ Company could collaborate with them to improve it. It was agreed that Levsen would modify the organ to fit and install it in the church. A new copper Trompette En Chamade with casework and eleven additional new stops were added. The new ranks of pipes were voiced and scaled to augment the existing pipework. The console was completely refurbished and stained to match the beautiful woodwork in the church, and a new electric lift bench was provided. The organ is now equipped with many new features such as a memory playback system, a transposer, an automatic pedal accompaniment, as well as MIDI capabilities. With the additions that were made, the Notre Dame organ now features multiple choruses to choose from.
The leather pouches of the Möller chests were replaced with electric action valves, new digitally controlled electric shade motors were installed, and all-new electric-action chests were built for the new ranks including the Trompette En Chamade. The existing organ possessed a very stable winding system so the Möller bellows were all releathered and retained in the Notre Dame installation.
Notre Dame Church used this opportunity when removing their Kilgen organ to make repairs and improvements to their organ chambers. The exterior walls of the organ chambers were insulated to promote temperature stability, new drywall was installed, the walls, ceiling, and floors were repainted, and LED lighting was added as the finishing touch. The church’s project coordinator, Dave Van de Loo, was extremely helpful in providing the timeline and coordination of many church volunteers for this project.
Hundreds of work hours were compiled in refurbishing this organ to fit the needs of Notre Dame. This project could not have been completed without the skills of Rodney Levsen, Jr., project manager, general design, programming, and woodworking; Gregory Levsen, wiring, assembly, and programming; Matthew Levsen, wiring and assembly; Rodney Levsen, Sr., and Dustin Levsen on finishing; Ron Schnack, wiring and assembly; Doug Barkalow, wiring, AutoCad, and programming; Nathan York, woodworking and assembly; and Lukas Levsen, general helper and assistant in all areas. Vivian Moore, office manager, worked along with Dr. Dan Newman, Dave Van de Loo, and the entire Levsen team in coordinating orders, schedules, emails, and phone calls for the project. An organ dedication concert featuring Professor Emeritus Dr. Paul Kosower was presented on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
—Rodney Levsen, Sr.
GREAT (Manual I)
8′ Principal 61 pipes
8′ Bourdon 61 pipes
8′ Gemshorn 61 pipes
4′ Octave 61 pipes
4′ Koppelflöte * 61 pipes
2′ Fifteenth * 61 pipes
2′ Hohlflöte 61 pipes
Fourniture III 183 pipes
Sharf II * 122 pipes
8′ Trompette En Chamade* 56 pipes
Chimes 21 tubes
Great to Great 4
Swell to Great 16
Swell to Great
Swell to Great 4
MIDI to Great
SWELL (Manual II, enclosed)
16′ Gedeckt * 61 pipes
8′ Rohrflöte 61 pipes
8′ Salicional 61 pipes
8′ Voix Celeste (TC) 49 pipes
4′ Geigen Octave * 61 pipes
4′ Flachflöte 61 pipes
2′ Principal 61 pipes
1 1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes
16′ Fagotto 61 pipes
8′ Trompette 61 pipes
4′ Hautbois * 29 pipes
Tremolo
Swell to Swell 16
Swell Unison Off
Swell to Swell 4
MIDI to Swell
PEDAL
32′ Resultant
16′ Bourdon 32 pipes
16′ Gedeckt (Swell) *
8′ Principal 32 pipes
8′ Waldflöte (Swell 16′) *
4′ Choral Bass 32 pipes
III Pedal Mixture * 96 pipes
16′ Fagotto (Swell)
8′ Trumpet 32 pipes
4′ Hautbois (Swell) *
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Swell to Pedal 4
MIDI to Pedal
Reversibles
Sforzando (thumb and toe)
Swell to Pedal (thumb and toe)
Great to Pedal (thumb and toe)
Combination action
8 General, thumb and toe
Swell, 4 thumb pistons and cancel
Great, 4 thumb pistons and cancel
Pedal, 3 toe pistons
99-level memory, automatic player, transposer, MIDI interface, Pause/play, Fortissimo/Crescendo indicators, Pedal to Manual reversible, Fortissimo reversible, 16-stage Crescendo shoe, Flash drive USB Port
* New ranks
