Ernest Skinner
Dorchester Illustration 2624
Ernest M. Skinner (1866-1960) was the most prominent organ builder of the early 20th century. Skinner believed an organ should be able to play all music effectively and with infinite tonal variety. His organs were highly orchestral in character. The high point of Skinner’s career may have been the installation of one of his organs in the Washington National Cathedral.
Skinner married Mabel Hastings in 1893, they lived at 293 Savin Hill Ave. for 2 years, and then 33 years at 7 Evandale Terrace on Savin Hill. One of his three children, Eugenia Shorrock, married in 1917, and moved to 259 Savin Hill Ave. at the corner of Evandale Terrace.
In the late 1890s, Ernest Skinner supervised the installation of numerous organs made by the Hutchings Company, including one in the Pilgrim Church in Dorchester. In 1900 he started his own company, the Ernest M. Skinner & Co. In 1905 it was incorporated as the Ernest M. Skinner Company.
In 1914 the company moved into a new factory building in Dorchester at Crescent Avenue and Sydney Street. The company became the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in 1932, and Skinner’s association with the firm ended in 1936. He and his son, Richmond, opened the Ernest M. Skinner & Son Company in Methuen, Mass., this company built the organ for the Washington National Cathedral in 1937.