My wife I were looking for something to do this past weekend. Living in Kansas City we like to visit towns around us, never knowing what we might find. We decided to visit St. Joseph, Missouri, known for the Pony Express and Jesse James. However, always looking for things off the beaten path, we discovered St. Joseph actually had a funeral museum. Given my interest in the funeral industry, we jotted down the address and were on our way.
An hour or so later we pull up to the museum. Much to our surprise, we discovered that the funeral museum was part of an active funeral home called Heaton-Bowman-Smith, and based on the number of cars outside, we were immediately aware that a funeral was in progress. Nonetheless, we ventured inside, jeans and all. A very nice lady met us at the door and surmised that we weren’t looking for the funeral. We explained that we were looking for the museum, and she ushered us down the hallway. The room she took us to was full of caskets, and other funeral paraphernalia.
At first, I was a little disappointed. I feared it wasn’t going to be worth our time, especially for my wife who doesn’t necessarily share my interest in the funeral industry. I am happy to say I was wrong on both counts. There may not have been very many exhibits, but all of them were extremely unique.
One such exhibit was the transport casket that interred the body of Jesse James, all the way from the coroner’s office to the funeral home where the service was held. Another casket on display was used before embalming was routinely done. It had metal trays in it, which were used to hold ice around the body and slow the decaying process. There were also several caskets, both wood and metal, that were completely enclosed, except for a round glass section for viewing the face inside.
Since that time I watched a 50’s horror movie featuring Vincent Price, and it was neat to see a similar coffin used. This era horror and science fiction movies are my favorite. Even the bad ones are entertaining. As you might suspect, during the funeral scene of the movie the camera drew in closer and closer to the glass window and just when they were hovering over it, the eyes popped open. I knew it was coming, we all knew was coming, but I still jumped. I wonder if that ever happened for real.
The museum also featured a display case of embalming equipment and various glass containers that presumably held embalming fluid at one time. I wish someone had been there to tell me about how the equipment was used, but the funeral was still going on, so I just had to look and wonder. Another display case held different photo books and what appeared to be scrap books. I gently looked through each one and found a treasure-trove of old pictures, articles and marketing pieces for the funeral home. One picture was of an old hearse and was labeled the first gas powered hearse in St. Joseph. Interestingly, many of the marketing pieces included pictures of their then current hearse. There was more, but too much to list in this article.
A number of small caskets were also on display. These would have been used for an infant or small child. If you have ever wandered through an older cemetery you start to notice how many of the oldest graves were for children. I guess we don’t appreciate how lucky we are today that the infant and child mortality rate is remarkably low, compared to the turn of the 20th century.
That day I realized it does not take a huge exhibit to be a remarkable exhibit. If you ever find yourself in St. Joseph, I highly recommend the museum.
When I got back home, I did a Google search for funeral museums. The first that came up was the national one in Houston, which I understand is incredible. But I also found several museums that were probably along the size of the St. Joseph museum, and often in active funeral homes. I also suspect there are many that were not included in the Google search. If you know of a funeral museum, or just a collection of funeral equipment someone has, but not designated as a museum, please send me their information. I would like to put together a list of these places. If there is already a list please pass that along too.