Allen Organ

Allen Organ Co.

Address: 3370 Route 100, Macungie
Telephone: 610-966-2202
Web site: www.allenorgan.com
Length of tour: 1 to 2 hours
Admission: Free
Days and times: Weekdays, by appointment only
Special instructions: The company generally requires at least three people to conduct a tour. Call a few days in advance.
Description: Enter the Allen Organ facility in Macungie and you have the impression of being in a church. The foyer contains a dozen or so models of the company's organs, underneath an arched wooden ceiling. The tour does not go through Allen's factory, only through showrooms and a museum.
Tour guides are professional organists employed in the company's sales division. So not only do they know the specifications of an organ, they know how to play it. You'll hear them do so in Octave Hall, an eight-sided 500-seat auditorium that houses concerts every month.
After that, you'll meander through the Jerome Markowitz Memorial Center. There you'll trace the history of the electronic organ from its inception in the 1930s through digital models. Allen Organ, as a matter of fact, is the birthplace of digital sound.
Don't think you'll be looking at flat Yahama-like keyboards. The finest Allen organs are ornately carved instruments worthy of the grandest churches and most prestigious performance halls.
Freebies: A compact disc that plays organ music if you put it in a CD player; put it in a computer and it gives you an interactive tour of the company.