The Austin organ is deeply rooted in the creative resourcefulness of John Turnell Austin. An Englishman who came to America in 1889, Mr. Austin first worked for Farand and Votey, where he developed his famous Universal Air Chest system. At a time when electro-pneumatic actions could be more troublesome than helpful, the Universal Chest was an enormous breakthrough. It was a large, air-tight, walk-in room, with the chest action on the ceiling.

Since the chest could be entered with the wind on, all adjustments and maintenance were easily accomplished. The first Austin-patent organs were built at the Clough & Warren factory in 1893, and Mr. Austin established his own company in Hartford in 1899. Austin organs have been built at this Woodland Street location ever since. By 1910, the Austin Organ Company was recognized as a leader in the field, helped by the extraordinary reliability of the Universal Chest. Organs from the 1890s are still in use today, because Mr. Austin's design has proven so reliable that the mechanism rarely requires maintenance and is extremely long-lived.

A tour through the Austin factory is an object lesson in the mechanical ingenuity of John T. Austin. He not only developed unique organ actions, but fantastic machines which helped to build them. His designs have proven timeless; while taking advantage of modern materials, a new Austin is still fashioned on the same principles developed more than a century ago.