St Hedwig Parish - Toledo

Ohio, USA

The first Polish immigrants began arriving in Toledo, Ohio just after the Civil War in the early 1870s. The vast majority of Poles who moved to Toledo were Roman Catholics, and they immediately felt a need to begin building ornate churches like the ones they had left behind in Poland. In 1875, St. Hedwig Parish, the first Polish parish in the Toledo area, was established in the Lagrange Street district (known as "Lagrinka" by the locals) under the patronage of St. Hedwig, Duchess of Silesia.
A Lyon & Healy pipe organ was installed at St. Hedwig’s in 1906 and it served the parish well for more than 100 years. With a steady increase in service-related problems, it was determined that the old pipe organ was going to require a significant amount of restoration work. The parish was simply not in a financial position to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the organ work. The St. Hedwig Church Council approved the purchase of a new Rodgers digital organ to replace the church’s aging pipe organ. In early 2010, the new Rodgers organ was played for the first time. The congregation was truly amazed at the wonderful sound. As an added bonus, the organ installation included opening up the area above the façade pipes to expose the beautiful stained glass window that had been blocked from the congregation’s view for decades.
The organ was designed and installed by the 2009-10 Rodgers Platinum Award-winning T.S. Good Church Organ Company. For information on Rodgers in Northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, please visit www.tsgood.com.