File:Skerbeck Shows cage organ.jpeg

Wurlitzer style 165 band organ (1914-1920s) serial number #3030 (1917/1923), purchased by Skerbeck Shows in 1962, then leased to Circus World Museum.

• "Skerbecks Top 1959 Despite Early Snow - Ride, Show Grosses Up 10 Per Cent; Blue Water Fest Pans Out Okay". Billboard (July 25, 1960). "PORT HURON, Mich. — The Skerbeck Amusement Company ... Fast Move ... New attractions include a Fly-o-Plane and a Dark Ride. Skerbeck also added a large military band organ. ..."
• Dan Robinson (revised September 2008). History of the Wurlitzer 165 Carousel Band Organs. Musical Box Society International (MBSI).
  In 1914, the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. introduced what is today considered the best, and best-loved, American band organ: the Style 165. According to Wurlitzer’s “Disposition of Instruments Manufactured,” 24 Wurlitzer 165s were produced. Ten complete examples survive. Three of these organs still operate publicly, while many of the others are remembered fondly by those who enjoyed them in their heyday. ...
  3. Organ #3030 (Circus World Museum) The original destination of organ #3030 was Toledo, Ohio, March 9, 1917. Wurlitzer records show that it was repaired at the factory, re-sold, and on April 2, 1923 was sent back to Toledo, where it would play for a three-row Muller carousel at Wallbridge Park. By 1959 the organ was in the ownership of Robert House, Manistee, Michigan, who had bought it for just $300 when the carousel and park were being dismantled. In 1962 the 165 was acquired by Skerbeck Shows, a Wisconsin-based traveling carnival, that never actually used the organ (even though their name is painted on the facade) and loaned it to the Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin. The museum later purchased the organ outright, and it is now featured in one of the circus-themed displays there. Like the Sanfilippo 165, the facade of this organ features raised panels. A decorative eagle believed to be from the frame of the Muller carousel is perched atop the organ (fig. 5).
  The Circus World Museum 165 is one of just three publicly operating Wurlitzer 165s today. Visitors to the museum can deposit quarters in a coin box to hear the organ, and step behind the organ to see its dual roll frames. The 165 was featured on two LP records issued by Cuca Records and made by R.L.P. Co. of Baraboo, “Circus World Band Organ” Vols. 1 & 2 (Cuca #3030 and #3060). Additionally, Fred Dahlinger Jr. notes that a 45-rpm single of the 165 was released earlier by the museum, before the organ was rebuilt by Stan Peters. It was later rebuilt by Richard Lokemoen, who maintains it today. The museum also owns several other band organs, the best-known being the 89-key Gavioli from Royal American Shows (which, incidentally, played 165 rolls before being restored to its original state)."