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History of the manufacturer  

Lowrey Organ; Chicago, IL

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Name: Lowrey Organ; Chicago, IL    (USA)  
Abbreviation: lowrey
Products: Model types Others Valve re-brand
Summary:

Lowrey Organ Division - Central Commercial Industries, Inc.
332 South Michigan Ave., Chicago 4, Illinois (1950)

The Lowrey Organ Company
7373 North Cicero Ave., Licolnwood, Chicago 46, Illinois (1958)
989 AEC Drive, Wood Dale, IL 60191-1143 (2016)

Manufacturer of electronic organs and accompanying amplifiers and speakers.

History:

The name goes back to Chicago industrialist Frederick Lowrey, president of Central Commercial Industries Inc. (Est. 1894).

From 1947 to 1951, Dr. Mervin J. Larsen worked as chief engineer in the research and development department of Central Commercial Industries. His work resulted in the creation of the Lowrey Organo, an "Electronic Piano-Organ", sold from ca. 1949 onwards (an advertisement from Oct. 1951 mentions two years of sales). The product was sold sperately as an add-on or it came already built into pianos.

With the death of Frederick Lowrey in 1955, the management of Central Commercial put the organ operation up for sale. Lowrey became a division of Chicago Musical Instrument (Gibson guitars etc.), then later of the Norlin Corp.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Lowrey was the largest manufacturer of electronic organs in the world.

Since ca. 1988 Lowrey is a division of Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg. Co., Ltd. In 1989, the Lowrey Organ Company produced its 1,000,000th organ.

Up until 2011, modern Lowrey organs were built in LaGrange Park, Illinois. In 2011, it was announced that production of a few models was to be moved to Indonesia.

This manufacturer was suggested by Tom Martens.


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