The First Congregational United Church of Christ is hosting a pipe organ concert to celebrate the instrument’s centennial. Three guest artists will perform at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the church, 2201 Woodlawn Ave. in Boise. It’s open to the public; donations to the organ fund are encouraged.

“Marche Funebre et Chante Seraphique” by Alexandre Guilmant, one of the pieces in Sunday’s program, was played at the organ’s inaugural concert in 1912.

The organ was built by W.W. Kimball in Chicago and dedicated in Boise on Sept. 27, 1912 — two decades after the congregation’s founding in 1891. The organ was installed in the church’s original home, now the site of the J.R. Williams Building south of the State Capitol. The organ’s arrival in Boise was big news, inspiring three stories in The Idaho Statesman in the summer and fall of 1912. At $4,000, its cost represented 10 percent of the church’s $40,000 building fund.

Congregation on the move: The church moved to its home at 23rd and Woodlawn Streets in 1967. The instrument was packed up for the move and stored for more than a year while the new church was being built. The re-installation took six weeks and required a bit of creativity. One 16-foot pipe had to be bent to fit the new space.

How does it compare? The First Congregation’s organ has 698 pipes. Notre Dame in Paris has about 8,000. The organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle has 11,623 pipes. Macy’s in Philadelphia has what some claim is the largest pipe organ in the world with 28,543 pipes.