Organists of Old First | 4: William G. Hammond (1903-1912)

Organists of Old First | 4: William G. Hammond (1903-1912)

Curious who wrote the Polytechnic Institute alma mater? Our fourth organist, William Gardiner Hammond, was a highly successful musician and composer, well-connected and well-known during his lifetime.  William Gardiner Hammond, was born Melville, Long Island, August 9, 1874, to parents George Tillinghast Hammond and Mary Elizabeth Shipman. His father was from an old Rhode Island family with Quaker ties, his mother from Long Island City, […]

Hear 1905 Composition by Old First’s William G. Hammond

Hear 1905 Composition by Old First’s William G. Hammond

William Gardiner Hammond was a composer as well as organist and choirmaster at Old First (1903-1912). He formed one of the early musical groups to hold concerts in our Carroll Street building, the Hammond Choral Society. Performances such as these were the forerunners of what Arts at Old First has become today. As a young man, William accompanied singer Lillian Nordica, America’s first home-grown diva. She […]