Hilborne Roosevelt

Who was Hilborne Roosevelt?

Hilborne Lewis Roosevelt was a pioneering organ builder and a member of the Roosevelt family.

He was born in Panama City, Florida to Silas Weir Roosevelt, a son of Cornelius Roosevelt. He was thus a cousin of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

He did not take to either of the traditional Roosevelt family occupations, business or politics. Instead, he was musically and mechanically inclined and wanted to be an organ builder from early childhood. His relatives frowned upon a mechanical occupation, but when he began to make money, his family was reassured. Roosevelt entered an organ factory in early youth, and studied the trade in Europe from an artistic standpoint.

He was particularly interested in the electric action organ, and was one of the first to study the application of new electrical devices to the manufacture of organ actions. He took out the first patent in the United States for an electric action for the pipe organ when he was 20, and built the first electric action organ in the United States for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Though primarily interested in the technical aspects, he had a good deal of business acumen as well, establishing factories in New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Hilborne organized the Roosevelt Pipe Organ Builders with his brother Frank, and built some of the largest organs in the United States during his career.