Courtesy of the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society, a vintage Hinners reed organ, manufactured by the Hinners Organ Co. of Pekin, is now displayed in the lobby of the Pekin Public Library.
The reed organ, which was donated by Fran Pelinka of Tigard, Oregon, had been displayed for many years in the lobby of the Pekin Municipal Building, but with the agreement of city officials, TCGHS President John Ackerman and past TCGHS President Susan Rynerson moved the organ to the library’s lobby today, Tuesday, 25 Nov. 2025.
The name of Hinners is justly prominent in Pekin’s history, and references to the internationally renowned Hinners’ Organ Company – that is, Hinners & Albertsen – appear several times in the standard works on the history of Pekin. For example, the 1949 Pekin Centenary, page 147, says, “For years, too, the Hinners Organ Company, founded in 1879, was one of Pekin’s leading factories, producing thousands of Hinners reed and pipe organs, sold to all parts of the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world.”
The Hinners organ factory was located at 125-131 Court Street, at the corner of Court and Second streets. Another old publication, the Industrial & Commercial edition of one of Pekin’s former newspapers, the Pekin Post-Tribune, includes the following two paragraphs about Hinners on page 21:
“In 1879 the manufacture of organs was inaugurated in Pekin by John L. Hinners. The first organs were made by him and one assistant. Small and insignificant as was the enterprise in the beginning, it has steadily developed in a natural and healthy manner and today it is one of the principal and most successful manufactories of the city. The establishment at the outset began the system of selling without agents, direct from the factory at factory prices, to private purchases.
“Messrs. Hinners & Albertsen enjoy a growing business. Only first-class lumber is used in organs. The firm procures the very best, direct from persons whose specialty is the preparing of lumber for organs and pianos. The aim of the company is not to create an opportunity for any one to gain by influencing sales of organs, but to offer to actual purchasers and users of organs the best possible organs at the lowest possible price. Reed and pipe organs are manufactured.”
Despite the well-earned reputation for quality, Hinners’ went out of business just prior to World War II and was formally dissolved in 1942, the victim of advancing technology – Hinners’ rivals had faster, more efficient, automated factories that enabled them to sell organs at much lower prices. Though the business and its buildings are long gone, an Illinois State Historical Marker located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Second and Margaret streets (at the foot of the John T. McNaughton Bridge) tells the story of Hinners.
Because the Hinners’ company once occupied a privileged place in Pekin’s history and local economy, the Pekin Public Library’s Local History Room keeps a “Hinners” file that includes newspaper clippings, essays, papers, and booklets related to the history of Hinners. One of the books in the library’s Hinners collection is a copy of “Hinners’ Organ Method,” an instruction book for learning how to play the organ. The front cover of the book features a Hinners reed organ just like the one now on loan in the library’s lobby.
