This 1887 Lakeside Organ has been on loan for display in the Addison History Museum’s Century House living room. It was recently donated to the museum by Addison residents Marty and Judy Hausermann, given in memory of Elmer and Althea Hausermann.
An 1887 organ, complete with its original “warrantee” (as it was spelled in 1887), was recently donated to the Addison Historical Museum by Addison residents Marty and Judy Hausermann, given in memory of Elmer and Althea Hausermann.. Previously, the organ had been on loan for display in the museum’s Century House living room. The organ was previously used in service of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Chicago.
The Lakeside Organ No. 12755, Style 52, was manufactured by Tryber & Sweetland, Manufacturers. According to the accompanying warrantee, the organ was originally sold on Sept. 26, 1887 and was “perfect in every respect, and [was] fully warranted against all defects in the manufacture.” It went on to say, “we hereby agree to make good any imperfections for TEN YEARS without expense to the purchaser.” It was signed “Tryber and Sweetland.”
The organ will remain on display as the focal point in the museum’s Century House living room. The Century House interprets the lives of early Addison Lutheran school teachers and their families. The museum is open for touring Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and the second Saturday of the Month from noon-4 p.m. Admission is free.
More about Tryber & Sweetland Mfrs.
William P. Tryber is first listed as selling pianos and organs in Chicago in 1874. In 1882, he went into partnership with Frank R. Sweetland forming “Tryber & Sweetland,” located at Lake and Peoria Streets, Chicago. The firm was a successful retailer of several well-known piano brands while manufacturing their own line of organs under the Lakeside brand name. In 1893 Tryber and Sweetland started building their own pianos under the Lakeside, Tryber and Tryber & Sweetland brand names.
In 1898 the firm was reorganized as “The Lakeside Piano Company” and was incorporated by Frank R. Sweetland, William P. Tryber and J. A. Woodbury. This same group also incorporated “The Lakeside Organ Company” as a separate entity that same year. In 1901 “The Sweetland Piano Company” was incorporated by E. Sweetland, F. R. Sweetland, and J. D. Pfieffer.
In 1903, brothers Fayette S. Cable and Hobart M. Cable purchased the Lakeside and Sweetland piano companies. Both firms were combined and reorganized as The Fayette S. Cable Piano Company. At that time, Tryber went back to building pianos under his own name. In 1905, Nelson joined Fayette S. Cable and the firm was reorganized as the now famous Cable-Nelson Piano Company. The Cable-Nelson Piano Company built pianos under the Lakeside brand name until about 1950.
In 1914, the Tryber Piano Company relocated all offices and factories to South Bend, Ind., and introduced its first line of baby grand pianos to their product line. Sadly, the firm continued to be riddled with financial difficulty and The Tryber Piano Company went out of business in 1915.
This information was garnered from antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/lakeside/.
