Skinner Organ at Rosary Cathedral, Toledo

The E.M. Skinner organ at Rosary Cathedral, Opus 820, dates from 1930 and was one of the last instruments Ernest Skinner designed and finished before he retired from the company that bore his name. When the company closed shop in 1972 (as the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company) it had built over 1500 organs for numerous churches and concert halls throughout the United States. It was, and still is, considered one of the premier organ building firms in the United States.

Representing the culmination of his career as an organ builder, the Rosary Cathedral organ contains all of the unique orchestral voices invented or perfected by Ernest Skinner. The organ remains today as Skinner designed it in 1930. For this reason it has become an important example of his work.

The organ has four manuals (keyboards) and 77 ranks of pipes (over 5000). The pipes are located in the organ chamber at the triforium level in the south wall of the sanctuary. The console was originally located in the choir loft opposite the pipe chamber but was moved in 1980 to the floor level of the sanctuary where the music area now is located.