The company was founded in 1974 by Iowa native Lynn A. Dobson, who served as President and Artistic Director until his retirement in February, 2020, when long-time colleague John A. Panning assumed ownership.[1] The company employs 18, and has produced almost 100 new instruments. It has also restored a number of historic organs, and tunes and maintains a variety of instruments in the upper Midwest.
Major church installations include a 95-rank organ installed at Highland Park United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas, in 2009, and an 84-rank instrument installed at Independent Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama in 2012. In 2013, Dobson completed a new mechanical action instrument for Merton College Chapel, making the firm one of a very few American organ builders to send its work to England. In 2018, Dobson completed a 126-rank instrument for Saint Thomas Church in New York City; it is the largest instrument built by the firm. In early 2021, the Dobson company completed a 51-rank organ having more than 3,000 pipes for the John and Alice Butler Hall at the University of Dubuque. The organ's dedicatory recital was held on April 6, 2021.[4]
A major fire on June 15, 2021, resulted in the destruction of the company's Lake City, Iowa, plant.[5] One Dobson employee was injured attempting to extinguish the blaze.[6] The four-manual organ under construction for St James' Church, Sydney, Australia, at the time of the conflagration was a total loss and the company personnel were reported to be “heartbroken” by the devastation.[7] On February 28, 2022, Dobson announced plans to build a new facility designed by ASK Studio of Des Moines on its old site.[8] Dobson has continued operations and resumed construction of the Sydney organ in interim workshop space while its new building is being designed and built.[9]
