History:
Johnson's Funeral Home dates to the second decade of the twentieth century, giving it the distinction of being Scott County's oldest continuing single family-owned business.
The firm has been guided by four generations of the Johnson family: Harlan J. Johnson, the founder; his son R.C. Johnson, Sr. and his wife, Lucille Honaker Johnson; their son R.C. Johnson, Jr. and his wife, Frankie C. Johnson; and their daughter, Elizabeth Lucille Johnson. Elizabeth, a licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer and her father, R.C. Johnson, Jr., are currently the homes Funeral Directors.
For many years the business was known as Johnson and Son, its promotional material denoting the company as "Furniture and Undertaking." The father-son team served as Scott County coroners as well as Lucille H. Johnson.
Johnson and Son's business location was a four-bay, three-story East Main Street commercial building that is now incorporated into Farmers Bank's main office complex as the eastern most part of the lobby. The furniture store occupied most of the first floor. In the back were large mahogany glass-faced cases for displaying caskets. On the second floor were the "layout room" and the "embalming room," both rarely used because most embalming and ninety percent of the wakes, as visitations were traditionally called, took place in homes, and practically all funerals were held at home or at the family's church. In the majority of cases, families chose caskets at the store for delivery to the home.
In 1936, the funeral home moved to its second location at 201 South Broadway. The practice of home wakes and church funerals continued until after World War II, at which time families began to request the greater frequency services at the funeral home. Between 1955 and 1980, with the exception of Roman Catholic and Episcopal funerals, the number of church funerals declined appreciably. Today, the trend is again reversing.
In order to provide larger facilities and ample parking, we moved to our third and present location at 641 South Broadway in December 1970.
( Click The Thumbnail for Larger View )
) Harlan J. Johnson |
) R. C. Johnson SR. |
) Lucille Honaker Johnson |
) Main St. Location |
) 2nd Location |
) Current Location |
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