Stone Mountain high school owns unique 'Page' of history
There’s a list of sounds you expect to hear at a high school – bells ringing, lockers slamming, and even students groaning. But the emotional, thrilling music from a pipe organ is probably not on that list…that is unless you’re at Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain.
Stephenson is home to a large and ornate Page theatre pipe organ, which was built back in 1927 in Lima, Ohio for WHT Radio, owned by the Wrigley Gum family. Although it moved around to various venues over the years, it eventually fell into the hands of the American Theatre Organ Society’s local chapter, who searched and searched for a perfect home.
According to society member Ken Double, they found that home when they contacted DeKalb County schools: "They were building Stephenson High School, they built it to accommodate the instrument, and here it is,” he says.
Audiences will have a chance to hear the Grande Page Theatre Organ at a concert on Saturday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Stephenson High School Performing Arts Theatre. The show will feature Ken Double on the Page, vocalist Daniel Mata, and Tommie Macon and the Gentle Men of Jazz. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the doors.
Good Day Atlanta’s Paul Milliken got the unique opportunity to go “behind-the pipes” of the Page, learning more about the extraordinary engineering of the instrument and what made it a favorite of theatre owners across the country. Click the video link above to check it out!