Andrew Carnegie

and a little-known legacy

An early twentieth century gift of industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie - or more appropriately, remnants of that gift - survive yet today in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania - and it’s not a library!

In 1900, Carnegie offered to purchase a new pipe organ, “the best of its kind in the country,” for St. Paul Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh. The organ was constructed in Chicago by the W. W. Kimball Co. in the summer of 1901 and “the magnificent new $20,000 organ” was dedicated on September 27, 1901.¹

The diocese had been considering building a new cathedral and that same year the downtown property was sold to industrialist Henry Clay Frick in what was then the largest real estate transaction in the history of the city.²

The diocese opted to build the new cathedral at its current location in the Oakland neighborhood of the city. The last Mass in the old downtown cathedral was celebrated in May of 1903 and the Kimball organ, less than two years old, was dismantled and placed in storage until the consecration of the new cathedral in 1906.³

The organ served the Oakland cathedral well for more than a half-century until 1962 when the diocese opted to purchase a new pipe organ, a Beckwith.

That same year, Andrew Carnegie’s Kimball, then over sixty years old, was moved to the newly constructed St. Anne Church in Castle Shannon.

Brendan Lowery, the current music director of St. Anne recently recalled: “By the time I arrived in February of 2016 the organ was literally being held together with glue and duct tape and was overdue for a once in a lifetime renovation.”⁴ In 2018 the parish kicked-off a $400,000 capital campaign. The project was divided into several phases, and with the support of generous parishioners, foundations, and other benefactors, the renovation was completed last year, on November 23.

The completed organ is a 3-manual, 42-rank instrument built by the Lully Organ Co. and includes much of the Kimball pipe work of the original organ⁵ donated by Andrew Carnegie 123 years ago!

Rendering prior to renovation. Source: St. Anne Church Archives.

The new console. Source: St. Anne Church Archives

The custom-built music rack is imprinted with a symbol taken from the Transept ceiling in Saint Anne Church. The symbol features the starry crown representing the Virgin Queen of Heaven surrounding a cross.⁶

1. https://media.musicasacra.com/publications/sacredmusic/pdf/sm119-3.pdf

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. The Chronicle of St. Paul of the Cross Parish, Winter-Spring Issue 2024

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid., Winter Issue 2020