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The Walter M. Williams HS Auditorium.
The auditorium is located behind the wing at the right of the school picture. With a balcony, it seats approximately 1200. The acoustics in the room are very fine, probably because there is not a square
wall in the auditorium. The auditorium is also the municipal auditorium for the City of Burlington. Walter Williams commissioned an organ as he did the building, auditorium and donated the land.
Skinner bid a III/63 organ but Standaart got the bid with a IV/63 organ. The buildings and the organ were completed in 1950. Interestingly enough, many of the ranks in the Standaart were recycled. There were at
least two Wurlitzer tuba horn ranks and several string ranks as well as a Kimball tibia rank.
Virgil Fox played the dedication in 1951 . Through the years, use of the organ dropped off and
little maintenance was performed until the organ became unplayable. In 1985, at the request of the school administration, PTOS removed the Standaart. With the space now available, Dr
Paul Abernethy, a resident of Burlington, donated a 3/15 hybrid theatre organ to the school with the provision that PTOS install and maintain it. The contract between the Alamance
County School System and PTOS was renewed in 1996 and at that time the organ was given to PTOS.
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