Truemors
Blocksom & Co.,
Undertakers & Embalmers
B.H. Blocksom opened the Blocksom & Co. Undertakers & Embalmers in downtown Eureka Springs, Arkansas in the mid 1880s.
He operated his firm in conjunction with his large three-story http://eurekaspringshistory.com/essays.htm Blocksom Mercantile Co., which was located at 61 Spring Street in downtown Eureka Springs. The above sign was painted on the north wall of the mercantile store and faced a stairway between it and the Wadsworth Hotel (now called the http://www.neworleanshotelandspa.net New Orleans Hotel & Spa). To reach the undertaking department, people walked down the stairway to a side entrance one flight down.
In 1888, Ed Newton joined the undertaking firm which then was renamed Blocksom & Newton Undertakers. Mr. Blockson had Arkansas embalmers license 99, and Mr. Newton had license 131.
When Mr. Newton died, C. A. McVay took over the business and relocated the firm into a storefront building on the street level of the same building. The large embalming room was located at the rear of the building, reached by an elevator which went to the street at the bottom of the hill behind this building.
McVay later sold the business to Lester Canner. Years later, Mr. Canner closed the business and joined the Nelson Funeral Home of nearby Berryville.
After all these years, the original Blocksom & Co. sign remains on the wall of the old funeral home building, a faded symbol of times past in this unique Arkansas town.
Source: Early Arkansas Undertakers, published in 1978 by Dr. Jim Moshinskie, a licensed Arkansas funeral director who now operates http://www.oakcrestwaco.com OakCrest Funeral Home in Waco, Texas.
ALSO SEE
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/97518501@N00/382279911/ See a recent picture of this historic old sign
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/drmo/collections/72157600238831297/ See more historic funeral home and ambulance pictures from Dr. Mo's site
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