William Benjamin Dearborn Simmons

American organ builder
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican organ builder
PlacesUnited States of America
wasOrgan maker Musical instrument maker Builder
Work fieldEngineering Music
Gender
Male
Birth27 April 1823
Death31 October 1876 (aged 53 years)
Star signTaurus
The details

Biography

William Benjamin Dearborn Simmons (b. Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 27, 1823 - d. there, Oct. 31, 1876) was an American organ builder.

Simmons apprenticed under Thomas Appleton and founded his own business in 1845 along with Thomas McIntyre. From 1851 he ran the business alone, and in 1856 George Fisher became partner. From 1858 to 1860 he and John Henry Willcox were partners in the firm.

Simmons's organs were some of the first to use a full Swell division, and he was an innovator in the use of tempered tuning and of steam-powered machinery in construction. In the 1850s his organs took on more Germanic qualities. Among his most important instruments were the 1855 organ built for Dover Hall in Boston, the 1859 organ for Harvard University, and the 1860 organ for St. Paul's Cathedral in Louisville, Kentucky.

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 14 Jun 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.