Methuen Memorial Music Hall houses the Great Organ which was originally built during the years 1857 through 1863 by the firm of E.F. Walcker et Cie., Ludwigsburg, Wurttemberg, Germany for the Boston Music Hall. It was the first concert organ in the United States and exerted considerable influence on American organ design and construction during the latter part of the 19th century.
Edward F. Searles of Methuen purchased the instrument in 1897, rebuilt it and erected it in this specially built concert hall designed by the English architect Henry Vaughan. In 1947, G. Donald Harrison of the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company of Boston completed an extensive tonal reconstruction. Today, the organ’s resources include four manuals; five divisions; 85 stops; 116 ranks; and 6,088 pipes.