LOLTOS was formed in 1973 by a group of dedicated individuals wishing to promote interest in theater pipe organs by presenting organ concerts and free socials. The Coronado has the original Grande Barton Organ and this organ has been played since opening night of the theater in 1927. Currently this organ is owned and maintained by LOLTOS.
LOLTOS role expanded to include guided tours and the creation of the Archives at the Coronado. Through the years many original theater artifacts have been returned and restored with care by LOLTOS members and the theater history has been maintained and carefully documented.
It was LOLTOS that originally saved the theater from being razed in the late 70s due to the owner’s (Kerasotes) wanting to sell the failing theater and turn it into a parking garage. Kerasotes agreed that if LOLTOS would do all the cleaning and maintaining of the theater they would not sell. The theater was deteriorating and LOLTOS members worked relentlessly to keep the theater alive.
LOLTOS along with The Restoration Education organization and The Rockford Historic Preservation Commission worked together to place the theater on the National (1979), State (1979), and Local (1980) Registers of Historic places.
Years later Kerasotes donated the theater to the city of Rockford. It was at that time that Kerasotes gifted the Grande Barton Organ to LOLTOS for all the dedicated work its members did while the theater was having difficult times and falling into disrepair.
Now after many years of the renovated theater’s reopening, LOLTOS still has dedicated members to work with Theater Management and Friends of the Coronado to promote and educate the public about the history of this majestic theater.
Grande Barton Organ
As part of the original Coronado theater plans, The Grande Barton Organ was designed for use as a theater organ being used during many acts. A theater organ consists of many unique and full-size percussion instruments that are played from the organ console. This was popular for background music during the run of silent films.
The organ was manufactured by the Barton Organ company in Osh Kosh Wisconsin. It was brought down to the theater in 5 box cars and was played on opening night. The original cost of the organ and all its pipes and percussion cost approximately $50,000. In 1927.
Today (2025) replacement cost would be $930,965. (97 years at 1.76/.93%increase plus 3.03% inflation rate)
The first piece of music played on the Grande Barton was “In A Little Spanish Town”. The organist was also the master of ceremonies so he would talk to the audience and then turn and play the organ to silent movies. The first silent movie played at the theater was “Swim Girl Swim”
Organ Lift and Rotation
The organ would be raised on a single screw from the basement and would also rotate. The rotation of the organ was necessary so that the organist could position himself where he could see the silent movie and play to the film.
According to van Dijk Pace Westlake architects that were hired during the renovation it was stated that as of today, the Coronado Grande Barton Organ is the only one of possibly two organs in the country that still rotates on it’s original screw and theater foundation.
During one performance the organ cabling that required to be located in a cutout in the organ platform was improperly positioned and when the organ was raised, the cable was cut causing sparks to fly out everywhere. The organist dived into the orchestra pit as the sparks flew out under the organ. The audience thought it was part of the performance and clapped excitingly not know the danger of a possible fire. The song that was being played was “Kiss of Fire”.
Organ Grilles
Organ Grilles on each side of the theater covering the 2 chambers originally resembled mirrored trellises similar to those in the lobby. But due to sound issues from the chambers it was determined that they had to be enlarged. Workman came from Chicago working weekends to construct the now existing dragon grilles. This work took about a year to complete so in the meantime white curtains covered the chamber area until the grilles were mounted.
Organ Re-furbished
The original finish of the organ was called a “circus wagon” finish which was red and gold and used on the most expensive models of the Barton organs. In the 1960s, the organ console was re-painted white and gold, when that new color scheme became the trend. During the renovation in 1999-2000, LOLTOS discovered, after much research, that the Grande Barton Organ had been painted the original crackle red and gold. Robb Kendall, an organ expert from Galena, Illinois, was employed to help with the organ refurbishing project. He did research to obtain the right products. The gold lacquer, which was mixed in Davenport, Iowa, was the same color that was used on the 1986 Chevrolet Camaros. The crackle finish product came from California, but Robb had to travel to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to obtain it. A paint store in Rockford mixed the color, called “Chimayo red”.
Robb successfully applied all gold paint (at least three layers) but when applying the red paint, it was drying too fast to crackle properly. Robb took the panels that needed the crackle finish back to his shop in Galena, and made several more attempts to coax the paint to perform as expected. Finally, by stirring additional reducer to the mix, he obtained crackles of just the right size and distribution. The crackling of the red lacquer started three minutes after the paint was applied and stopped crackling after 15 minutes.
Organ Chambers
There are two organ chambers behind the organ grills on each side of the theater toward the stage. The one on the theater (house) left is the Main Chamber, and the one on the theater (house) right is the Solo Chamber.
The Main Chamber houses the largest of the pipes. The chamber reaches 55 feet and many of the pipes are made from wood, some as large as 1 foot square and 16 feet tall. Both chambers contain full ranks of pipes, both bass and treble. Some pipes are also made of metal.
The Solo Chamber contains the smaller treble pipes, the smallest being about the size of a finger. On the back wall of this chamber are full size percussion instruments. A Bass drum, Snare drum and Xylophone are located here. The cymbal, car horn, siren, sleigh bells, cathedral chimes, etc, are held on a wooden framework on the east side of the chamber. These were used by the organist pressing specific keys from the organ console during the playing of silent movies in the theater.
