H. Frederick Fuller originally came from Chicago where he followed a musical career as had his father, Henry Frederick Fuller, who was an organist and student of Sir John Stainer in London.  He entered radio in its infancy, broadcasting features regularly over midwestern stations.  Besides performing, Fuller also taught organ and did maintenance for church, theater, radio and concert hall organs as well as planning and installing area organs.  After World War II he operated an organ business for ten years, using the name Maxcy-Barton (no connection to Barton Organs).  As WHA musical director he planned and wrote scripts for "Music of the Masters," an eight-week "Music Appreciation" course, and "The Noon Musical," a dinner program of salon and chamber music.  His church post in Madison was as organist and choirmaster at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church.  While in Ames, Fuller played over WOI radio two days after the dedication following the inauguration of President Charles E. Friley.   

Later that same week, Howard Chase (1909-1981) of the Music Department was appointed official organist of the Memorial Union Barton, and began daily noontime recitals of semi-popular and classical selections from 12:30 to 1:00.  Chase, a graduate of Des Moines East High School in 1927, studied organ shortly thereafter with well-known theatre organist and teacher Henry Francis Parks of the Chicago Musical College.  While in Chicago, he served as assistant organist at the Evangelical Lutheran Church and substitute organist at the United Artist Theater.  At age 19 he was regular organist at the Circle Theatre in Nevada from its opening on October 17, 1928.  Chase continued his musical study at Drake University and at Juilliard under Hugh Porter.  In Ames, he was also organist at the First Baptist Church from 1927 to the 1940s.

For his daily concerts in the Great Hall, Chase devised a system whereby a person walking into the hall at anytime during the noon hour could know what selection was being played.  The recital program for the day was posted on a large bulletin board, with each selection numbered to correspond with numbered cards displayed on the organ console on the stage.  In 1939, Wednesdays featured selections programmed by Chase, and Fridays were devoted to selections left in a request box at the main desk.  Besides the noon-day programs, Chase played for vesper services, twilight musicales, parties, receptions, Varieties, four commencements a year, and broadcasts over WOI.  He also broadcast from the 1936 Kilgen theatre organ at radio station WHO in Des Moines.  In addition to giving piano and organ lessons, teaching music appreciation, and serving as Memorial Union organist, he was music supervisor at WOI Radio and started the classical record library there.  Mr. Chase took a year's leave to earn his master's degree in music theory from the University of Michigan during 1944, and left Iowa State in 1946 to become instructor in music theory at Ann Arbor.  The last 25 years of his career were spent at the University of Nevada, where he started the music department.  In appreciation for his many contributions there, the library's music listening room was named in his honor.


Organ performance, Great Hall, Memorial Union, November 2, 1936

Throughout its history, the organ has been in a continual state of modification.  In the early years the Music Department insisted on making it less theatrical.  At some point, the percussions (tambourine, castanets, Chinese block, tom-tom, cymbal, drums and thunder effect) were all removed.  P.J. Buch, a Cedar Rapids technician who serviced the organ at the time, was asked to remove the Kinura rank, whose buzzy sounding pipes were considered offensive to classically trained ears.  Pete obliged and surpassed his charge by giving away the pipes to children for use as Halloween horns.  The console did not escape the classical transformation either.  Its graceful scalloped lid, molded compo candelabra decorations,  and textured plastered panels were removed and replaced with a plain, dark oak shell to match the paneling of the Great Hall. 

Since at least 1939, Howard Chase had harbored a desire to add ranks to the Barton despite objections from the original donors.  In October 1943 he learned of an organ for sale through P.J. Buch.  The organ in question was a ten-rank theatre organ installed early in 1926 in Iowa City's Pastime Theatre by Otto Solle of Chicago.  It featured a Musette rank and an unusually complete set of percussions including Parsifal bells and tuned sleigh bells, none of which were common to small installations.  In all probability this was an organ assembled from parts to satisfy the economy-minded theater owner.  This instrument was available for purchase at the very reasonable price of $850.  It was pointed out at the time, that the 20-note cathedral chime (to replace the original 13-note Barton one) and the 37-note celeste harp were worth that money alone.  In all probability, the 13-note chime was passed on to the First Christian Church in Ames in 1944 where it is still in use.  Before Mr. Chase left on a year's leave, he examined the instrument and recommended its purchase.  Installation in the north chamber ran the total costs up to $2860.  In the process of doubling the number of ranks, existing pipes in the north chamber were moved to the south chamber.  Returning from Ann Arbor, Michigan for a few days, Howard Chase had scheduled a special recital for October 22, 1944 to celebrate the reconditioned organ.  However, wartime shortages of labor and scarcity of materials made it impossible to complete the work in time, and the recital had to be canceled.  During the 1940s the organ was regularly used for Faculty Women's Club programs and for Sunday services broadcast over WOI Radio.  Two technicians maintained the organ during this period: Robert Beeston and Robert Milliman, both of Des Moines.

In 1951, Ralph Borck, a recently hired WOI-TV studio producer, began his long association with the instrument.  He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Iowa in Speech and Theater, and soon discovered the Barton organ in the Great Hall upon his arrival in Ames.  In spite of his lack of understanding of organ building, he serviced, tuned, added and substituted ranks to the organ for the next 43 years.  With the organ as his hobby, Mr. Borck worked on his own time using shop mechanics and students employed by the Union to assist him.  The first major addition was in 1969 with ranks of pipes salvaged from the Des Moines Theater just before it was razed.  This theater formerly stood at the corner of 6th and Grand next to the Paramount in the capitol city, and possessed a 1919 Kimball organ with an Echo division in the third balcony.  Even though all the "traps" had been long since scavenged by children, the pneumatic actions were saved and moved along with the pipes and pedal windchests to Ames.  Most of the ranks added in 1944 were removed to make room for the Kimball ranks.

The Music Department used the organ for teaching and practicing from the late 1930s through the 1960s.  Because classical organists were confused by the console layout of a theatre organ, the Department had the wiring of the top and bottom manuals switched.  Late one night in 1956 or 1957 Ralph Borck and Paul Buegel, another WOI employee, switched the manuals back to their original positions much to the shock and confusion of the female organist who came in to play it the next day.  The Department never did know who perpetrated the deed.  Accomplice Paul Buegel, who first discovered the organ as a student in 1948, was a theatre organ enthusiast who enjoyed playing and servicing the organ throughout his stay in Ames.  He was later hired by Ralph Borck to assist in the WOI studio. 

Mr. Borck moved the console, with the help of eight shop employees, from the stage to the north balcony in 1971.  This necessitated the removal of the pneumatic stop action in the console since a lengthy flexible windline from the blower in the basement to the balcony was no longer feasible.  As a further consequence the combination action was also disabled. During the summer of 1988 Tammy Swenson, a Computer Science major and craft hobbyist, assisted Ralph by hand painting a carved wood molding decorating the console, releathering pouches, and installing a heater in the east chamber. The last major addition came during 1979-1980 with the incorporation of twelve ranks of pipes from the 1929 Moller organ in Westminster Presbyterian Church at 4114 Allison Ave. in Des Moines.  After removal by Ralph and Paul, nine of the ranks were installed in a newly created Echo chamber in the east balcony where a separate Kinetic blower provided wind pressure.  Student assistants Mark Turner and Mike King were indispensable in helping with this installation, staying on to help Ralph between classes, on weekends and during vacations to repair, releather, tune, etc.  Mike's tenure from January 1979 to 1985 also allowed him to gain experience setting up for Madrigal Dinner and Varieties performances.  In the fall of 1995 the Union began a series of major renovation projects.  A long overdue separate air handling system for the Great Hall dictated the permanent removal of the Echo Division.  Renovation of the basement Commons area required expansion into the area occupied by the 1200 pound Spencer blower.  After furnishing a stable wind supply for sixty years, it was removed in November and placed in storage awaiting future restoration of the instrument.

Besides working on the mechanics of the Union organ, Mr. Borck regularly presided at the console for events during the 1960s and 1970s.  Ralph began music studies by first taking piano lessons.  Then during high school in the 1930s, he learned theatre organ technique from theatre organist Don Miller.  Lessons were on the three-manual Wurlitzer at the Great Lakes Theatre in Detroit.  Through the years, many faculty, staff, students and visitors have heard Ralph play during noon hours, at alumni banquets, and other occasions.  In June of 1994 Ralph retired from the university and died four years later, thus ending his long association with the Union's pipe organ.  It had always been his vision to see the organ completely restored and regularly used. To further this end and to ensure a legacy, he left his estate to benefit the pipe organ. 

At present, the organ could best be described as a Barton hybrid totaling 21 ranks of pipes in unplayable condition and in need of extensive restoration.  Ironically, had the organ been left unmodified with only routine tuning and servicing through the years, it could still be in use today.  The foresight of original donors Bill Lane and Walter Wells deserves a lasting legacy.  The Great Hall needs to reverberate again and listeners experience the incomparable power and emotion possible from a mighty theatre organ.  New audiences could be created from the present generation of students, and the Memorial Union organ could once again be as cherished as the carillon by alumni.  After all, this vintage theatre organ is one of only six surviving examples available to the public in Iowa.  The other five include a 3/12 Wurlitzer in Paramount Theatre (Cedar Rapids), a 3/14 Barton in the Community Theatre, formerly the Iowa Theatre (Cedar Rapids), a 3/12 Wicks in Capitol Theatre (Davenport), a 3/12 Barton in the restored Opera House (Pella), and a 3/13 Wurlitzer in the Municipal Auditorium (Sioux City).