The Organ at St. Leo's Church
BUILT
IN 1881 BY A GERMAN CRAFTSMAN, HENRY NEIMANN ( see below), MOST
OF THE PIPES THAT PRODUCE THE SOUND ARE HIDDEN FROM VIEW BUT CAN
BE ACCESSED
THROUGH
A HIDDEN
PANEL NEAR THE ORGAN. THE PIPES ARE COMPLEX AND VARY ENORMOUSLY
IN SIZE.
HENRY
NIEMANN, THE BUILDER
HENRY Niemann, was
one of the two most important organ builders in Baltimore,
a city of many organ factories before the Civil War.
In fact, Baltimore led in the introduction of organs
into North America.
Niemann, an apprentice cabinet maker, born in Asnabruch, Germany, came to this
country in 1857, got a job with an organ builder in Cincinnati, but after two
years went to Paris and Germany for 14 years to study organ building.
After a five-year apprenticeship with Cavailla-Coll, the leading 19th Century
French organ builder, he returned to the United States on his honeymoon in
1872 to open his own business at Caroline and Holland Streets. In 1878, he
moved to 10 - 12 North High Street, the same year he won the Maryland Institute
Exhibition gold medal.
In 1892, according to his advertisement, he was at 561 - 63 East Monument Street.
By the time of his death on 26 October 1899, he had built forty organs in Baltimore
churches and many others had been shipped to all parts of the country.
Today, only seven Niemann organs remain in Baltimore and one is in Taneytown,
all believed to still be in use. The organs are located at;
1. First Unitarian Parish Hall - Charles and Franklin Streets - built in 1880
2. St.
Leo the Great (R.C.) - 227 South Exeter Street - built in 1881
3. Chapel at former St. Joseph's Passionist Monastery (R.C.) 3800 Frederick
Road - built around 1887.
4. St. Thomas Aquinas (R.C.) - 1008 W. 37th St. Hampden - built in 1888.
5. First Unitarian Church - Charles and Franklin Streets - built in 1893
6. Church of St. Peter the Apostle - Hollins and Poppleton Streets - built
around 1893
7. Old Otterbein UMC - Sharp and Conway Streets - built in 1897 and the smallest
of his organs.
8. St. Joseph's Church (R.C.) - Taneytown, Md. rebuilt in 1876. Originally
built by George Pike of London, England, for St. Paul's Episcopal Church in
Baltimore, it was rebuilt around 1876 by Niemann for its present home. The
case and some pipes are from the 1804 instrument; the windchest, keydesk, and
action date from the Neimann rebuild. (Source: David Storey)
Niemann's Life In Baltimore
Henry Niemann was married to Elizabeth Thuer, and was returning to Baltimore
on his honeymoon in 1872, when he opened his own business on Caroline Street.
He later moved to 10-12 North High Street and finally to 561 - 63 East Monument
Street.
Henry and Elizabeth had five children: Henrietta Frank, John, Ella and Cecilia,
all of whom lived on East Chase Street, where he would read Charles Dicken'
stories around the dinner table.
Henrietta attended the Maryland Institute. Frank entered business with his
father. Just before his marriage, however, his fiance died during an appendectomy
operation. He left Baltimore, never to return and his widowed mother had to
close the business in 1908. John, always interested in the railroads, worked
for the Pennsylvania Railroad with an office in Union Station. Ella studied
voice and piano at the Peabody and sang in local churches. Cecilia became an
artist. In 1906, she marrried J. Watson Owings, a metallurgist, and moved to
Philadelphia. they had a daughter, Elizabeth, who was named for her grandmother.
Henry Niemann died on 26 October 1899. Because his wife, Elizabeth, had converted
to Catholicism, he was buried in Holy Redemer Cemetery. Henry's widow lived
with her daughter Cecilia, in Philadelphia, until her own death on January
28, 1924, at age 85.
In 1991, Henry Niemann had one living relative, Miss Elizabeth Owings, a granddaughter,
who was a resident of the Fairhaven Retirement Community, in Sykesville, Maryland.
Daughter of Cecilia, Elizabeth Owings never married and worked for General
Electric in Philadelphia.
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