Weierbach Undertaking Company, Bethlehem, PA, 1898-1941

nobody@flickr.com (Dr. Mo) — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:23:36 -0700

Dr. Mo posted a photo:

527-529 Wyandotte Street - Same building in 1916 as compared to 1985

These two pictures show the same historic building at 527-529 Wyandotte Street near Five Points in south Bethlehem, Pa. The building has an interesting past because it served as a funeral home for several Bethlehem funeral businesses through the years. It had a large warehouse / garage in the back which at first served as a stable for the horse-drawn hearses, then later used for motorized hearses. The warehouse / garage also contained the embalming room. The large three-story warehouse / garage was accessed through a rear ally, and the building included a pulley system to lift caskets into the third story warehouse.

Walter M. Weierbach Undertaking Company, 1898-1941
First, this building was the Walter M. Weierbach Undertaking Company. His business is shown in the 1916 photograph on the left. A team of horses prepares to pull a black hearse while a motorized undertaker's wagon sits out front. Standing in the doorway is Mr. Weierbach himself. He opened his undertaking business on June 1, 1898 in the three-story brick building at Nos. 527-29 Wyandotte Street, containing a reception room, general office and showroom with 50 caskets, chapel, a three-story morgue/warehouse in the back, and gray motor-driven vehicles. His 1916 advertisement states "I am the best equipped to handle funerals on short notice and have a fine place to keep bodies and hold funeral services, just as in your own home without an extra charge, have also large show room where are kept many different designs of caskets, robes, dresses, handles, and linings, so you see what you get, and employ the best of help, have always a lady to assist in taking care of ladies, and render the best of services."

WALTER M. WEIERBACH - One of the city’s most progressive undertakers, was born May 4, 1868, a son of Cornelius W. and Magdalene Myers Weierbach, in Pleasant Valley, Pa. He attended the public schools there. October 7, 1889, he came to South Bethlehem and accepted a position at E.H. Kresge’s department store, remaining in his employ for two years. Later he accepted employment with the late Fred L. Nadler, who was then engaged as an undertaker. On June 1, 1898, he began his business career and today has a large trade, having a three-story brick building at Nos. 527—29 Wyandotte Street, containing a reception room, general office and show room, three-story morgue and chapel with room for fifty caskets, and gray motor-driven vehicles. Mr. Weierbach over seven years ago was one of the organizers of the Eastern Pennsylvania Funeral Directors’ Association of which he is now the efficient secretary. He has also been for a number of years the president and treasurer of the Bingen Brick Company, a very successful firm. Mr. Weierbach is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a member of the Beethoven Maennerchor, Wreath of Friendship Lodge, I.O.O.F., Damascus Commandery No. 50, Knights of Malta, B.P.O. Elks, Loyal Order of Moose. On May 4, 1868, he married Ida C. Keener.

His manager later was Kenneth W. Frey.

After Mr. Weierbach died on May 19, 1941, the undertaking firm was relocated to 835 Broadway Blvd.where it was operated by his wife, Ida Weierbach in conjunction with Kenneth Frey as the Frey Funeral Home.

Miller Funeral Home, 1941-1946
The former Weierbach building became the Miller Funeral Home and that firm was operated there from 1941-1946.

Lester S. Pearson Funeral Home, 1946-1970s
The building became the Lester S. Pearson Funeral Home in 1946, and it remained there until the 1970s when the Pearsons moved into a handsome new building at 1901 Linden St., Bethlehem.

The former Weierbach building still stands in Bethlehem as a private residence.

OBITUARY FOR LESTER S. PEARSON

May 26, 1996|The Allentown Morning Call

Lester S. Pearson, 82, of 1334 Kirkland Village Circle, Bethlehem, died Saturday. May 25, 1996 in Kirkland Village. He was the husband of Ailene (Long) Pearson who died in 1991. A licensed funeral director since 1942, he owned and operated the Lester S. Pearson Funeral Home, beginning in 1946 at 529 Wyandotte St. and then in 1966 moved to its present location at 1901 Linden St., both Bethlehem. Pearson graduated from Eckels College of Mortuary Science, Philadelphia. A founder of the funeral service education department at Northampton Community College, he was a member of its first Funeral Advisory Board and its Foundation Board until 1993, when he was named member emeritus. He was secretary, district governor and, in 1970, president of the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association. He was past president of the Bethlehem American Business Club, and a director of the Men of Muhlenberg Hospital Center and the Masonic Temple, Bethlehem. Born in Hellertown, he was a son of the late John Z. and Mabel (Solliday) Pearson. He was a member and former council member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Bethlehem. Survivors: Daughter, Jane C. of Bethlehem; sons, Dr. Barry J. of Guilford, Conn., and Dr. David B. of Sierra Madre, Calif., and four grand children. Services: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the church. Call 6:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday in church. Arrangements, Kohut Funeral Home, Allentown.

ALSO SEE:
(1) See picture of this building as Weierbach undertaking co.
(2) Downing Funeral Home, 835 Broadway
(3) Warehouse / garage in the back of the funeral home.

Click here to view hundreds of historical photographs of undertakers, funeral homes, professonal vehicles, and early ambulances collected since 1967 by Jim Moshinskie (Dr. Mo), PhD, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA. This also includes Special Interest Groups for several individual states.

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Dr. Jim Moshinskie, OakCrest Funeral Home, Waco, Texas
Personal website: Funeral Home Historic Photo Collections

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Weierbach Undertaking Company, Bethlehem, PA, 1898-1941