Dobson Pipe Organ Builders announced plans today to rebuild its workshop facility in Lake City, Iowa, its home since its founding in 1974. The company’s previous workshop, parts of which dated to the 1890s, was completely destroyed in a June 15, 2021 fire so intense that seven area fire departments were called to the scene. The new building, located on the same site at 200 N. Illinois Street, will be designed by ASK Studio of Des Moines. Carroll-based Badding Construction will be serving as general contractor. Projected completion of the new facility is late 2023.
Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, founded by Lanesboro native Lynn Dobson, is a company with an international reputation for fine organ building. The firm has designed and built instruments for churches, educational institutions and concert halls from coast to coast. In 2013 Dobson completed its first overseas project, for Merton College, a part of the University of Oxford in England. At the time of the fire, the company was building an organ for St. James’ Church in Sydney, Australia, its 99th new instrument.
Since the fire, Dobson has been operating in rented quarters on the west end of Lake City’s Main Street, with its interim office in a small house a few blocks away. While the company was regrouping immediately after the fire, it kept employees busy with organ restoration projects in Iowa and Wisconsin, work that did not require the resources of a large workshop. At the end of 2021, it once again started construction of the Sydney organ.
The eight months since the fire have been an emotional rollercoaster, said Dobson president John Panning. “Seeing over 40 years of history, all our tools, the company’s home, burn up in just a few hours was devastating, and some of those things just can’t be replaced. But only one person was seriously injured, and he’s made a full recovery, so I’m tremendously thankful for that.”
Panning, who has been with the company since 1984, assumed ownership of the firm following Lynn Dobson’s retirement in February, 2020. “News of our fire shot around the organ world, and immediately offers of help, and gifts of money and tools came pouring in, in some cases from people I didn’t even know. It’s been very humbling to learn how much what we do means to people.”
The help didn’t just come from far away. “Right after the fire,” Panning said, “Gus and Nancy Macke, owners of Lake City’s Macke Motors, made a couple buildings available to us, and so did local electrician Tony Sommerfeld, who’s done a lot of work for us over the years. And after the first of the year, the family of Bill Kurth rented us his building, which is right across the street from Tony’s. These buildings have allowed us to re-establish our shop while we’re putting up a permanent replacement for what we lost.”
Panning is excited to resume Dobson’s place on the city square. “Our new shop won’t look like the old one, but it will be a respectful neighbor and something Lake City can be proud of. When I drive by on Main Street, I still catch myself looking at where the old shop used to be. I can’t wait to fill that gap on the northeast corner of the square.”