Schuelke Organ Company

The Schuelke Organ Company was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based pipe organ builder. Schuelke Organs operated in the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

Pipework of the Schuelke Organ at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, Ashland, Wisconsin. The organ was installed in 1904 and remains mostly original.

William Schuelke was a Prussian immigrant who came to the United States in 1874. Schuelke's contributions to organ building included inventing the electric motor powered bellows crank, for which he received a patent. This was a major improvement over existing hand-cranked bellows.

The Schuelke Organ Company ceased operations in the early 20th century. Today, few of the organs his company produced exist intact.

A yearly free organ recital is held at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Milwaukee on the first Sunday of November to showcase its 1885 Schuelke pipe organ.

Locations with a Schuelke organ

• Bethany Lutheran Church, Ishpeming, Michigan
• Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Mecan, Wisconsin
• First Lutheran Church, Middleton, Wisconsin
• First Presbyterian Church, Leadville, Colorado
• John Paul II Roman Catholic Church, Carroll, Iowa
• Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, Ashland, Wisconsin
• Ozaukee Congregational Church, Grafton, Wisconsin
• Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Saint Anthony of Padua Church, St. Louis, Missouri
• Saint Boniface Church New Vienna, Iowa
• Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Columbus, Ohio
• Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Remsen, Iowa
• Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin destroyed by fire, May 15, 2018

External links

• Schuelke organs in the Organ Historical Society Database
• Recording and program of an event on the New Vienna organ
• Schuelke Organ at St. Mary's, Remsen Iowa, rebuilt by Dobson Organ Co.