American Guild of Organists
Washington DC Chapter

The District of Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists was the twelfth chapter of the Guild to be established.
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The driving force was Oscar Franklin Comstock, longtime organist and choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church (now torn down) and a founding member of the National Guild in 1896.
In 1907, Comstock proposed a Southern chapter "taking in Richmond [VA] and other near-by places."
 
An Organists and Choirmaster's League had already been established under the leadership of the Right Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee, the first Episcopal bishop of Washington (1895-1908). At the League's final meeting in June 1909, Comstock introduced New York physician and organist Dr. Henry Granger Hanchell, who urged the Washington organists to identify themselves with the American Guild of Organists.
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Eighteen months later, The Evening Star reported: "An event of considerable importance in musical circles took place Thursday evening (December 15, 1910) in the studio of Oscar Franklin Comstock, at 1217 F Street, N.W. when ... the District of Columbia Chapter of the Guild was formed...."
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Comstock was elected dean, and British native Edgar Priest, soon to leave St. Paul's Parish, K Street, to become the first organist and choirmaster of Washington National Cathedral, was named sub-dean.
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After Priest's death in 1938, the District of Columbia Chapter made possible a two-manual Ernest M. Skinner organ as a memorial in the Cathedral's Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea. 

Now, with more than 150 members, the DC chapter is a large and thriving force for the recognition of organ, choral, and church music in our Nation's capital. 
 
Members represent every Christian denomination, as well as Jewish, Inter-Faith, and non-religious "Friends of the Organ." The chapter meets multiple times throughout the year for educational, musical, and fellowship opportunities and is administered by a Board of Officers.