The company was established in 1974, but parts of the shop dated back to the 1890s. It was on June 15, 2021, when a fire broke out in the shop, and the company lost everything, including unique handmade tools.

Wednesday on the northeast corner of Lake City’s town square, John Panning, Dobson president, led a groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s new building, slated for completion in 2024.

Before grabbing a shovel, Panning gave the floor to the Rev. Ryan Roerhig of Carroll’s St. Paul Lutheran Church, who emphasized the importance of the day — and what the company manufactures.

“A word from the great Martin Luther about music,” said Roerhig. “Music is to be praised and second only to the work of God because, by her, all the emotions are swayed; that is why there are so many songs and psalms. This precious gift has been bestowed on men alone to remind them that they are created to praise and magnify the Lord.”

-Messenger photo by Doug Clough
John Panning, Dobson Pipe Organ Builders president, left, looks on as  the Rev. Ryan Roerhig, of Carroll’s St. Paul Lutheran Church, offers his blessing on the company’s ground breaking day. Roerhig’s message emphasized music as an important tool of faith.

After Roerhig’s blessing, Panning gave kudos to those entities that gave the Dobson company hope that they would be in business for years to come.

“Before the fire was even put out, Mid-Iowa Insurance offered us office space,” said Panning. “For the summer of 2021, our office was 110 N. Illinois St. rather than 200 N. Illinois St. We are incredibly grateful for the place that they gave us to land in the aftermath of the fire.

“We’re grateful to Paul Iversen whose workshop is across the square — he’s a former Dobson employee. He gave us essential workshop space, so we could carry out our business the week right after the fire.”

Panning also thanked numerous others for their help with building space and support during the interim while plans were being formulated for the new building.

The new workshop, which will be located at 200 N. Illinois St. — again — once completed, will be over 16,000 square feet, which is fewer square feet than the former shop.

-Submitted image
This image shows what the new Dobson Pipe Organ Builders facility will look like when it’s completed in 2024. The new workshop has been designed by ASK Studio of Des Moines and will be built by Badding Construction of Carroll on the same site as Dobson’s former facility, at 200 N. Illinois St., on Lake City’s historic City Square.

“The difference is mostly in storage space,” said Panning. “This building is designed to allow for future additions as they become necessary.

“We’re proud to be coming back to our corner on the square. I’ve admired how the company workers came forward to keep things going, despite working in temporary sites. Many of our manufacturing pieces were split up, and organ pieces were taken from one building to storage, then to another building. It was a short distance, but still pieces had to be handled more than usual.”

One of those company workers was Dean Heim, a shop foreman and lifelong resident of the area. Heim is semi-retired with 35 years with the company. Heim started as a hands-on worker who knew how to woodwork, paint, and spray when he began with Dobson and then earned the spot of supervisor, although he performed duties within purchasing as well as drawing reviews.

“A lot of our projects have been fairly large,” said Heim. “We’ve done 50,000 man-hour jobs, and it takes a lot of thinking and planning. I was in charge of the installations.”

Heim traveled to Oxford, England, but his most challenging installation was at St. Thomas Church in New York City.

“First of all, it’s a large church, and it’s on Fifth Avenue, so access for trucks had to be coordinated very tightly. There are thousands of visitors each year, and they kept the church open for us. It was the largest organ that we’ve built to date. There was romance with the travel of course.”

Heim lives only six blocks from the shop and is semi-retired, helping the new foreman get his feet on the ground. He admits that the interim has been challenging.

“We had one of the nicest woodshops in the country,” Heim said. “The biggest challenge was finding a place to go, replacing all tools, screws, nuts, bolts, lumber, saws … it all went up in flames. John Panning did most of the replacement sourcing; he’s very worldly in the organ business and well-known in the United States.”

Carroll’s Badding Construction will be general contractors with the building designed by ASK Studio in Des Moines. The company hopes to be making pipe organs again by the end of 2023.

“It’s great that Dobson is staying in town,” said Heim. “We’re all very proud of Lake City, and how we rose to the occasion to keep Dobson local.”