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On July 1, 1914, the Fresno crematory was opened. The crematory consisted of two
cremation chambers, a chapel and a columbarium. The property is located on
Belmont Avenue, west of Roeding Park, and north of the Mountain View Cemetery,
which was established in 1888.
Originally behind the crematory, there was a streetcar track that ran through
Roeding Park and dead-ended at the crematory.
There was also a self-made airport on the balance of the property. Local
aviators, who flew bi-planes for their own pleasure, established the airport.
The crematory was a product of prominent citizens who wished to establish a
crematory in the Fresno area. They formed a private stock company in order to
finance the project. The Fresno crematory was the first crematory in the valley.
The closest crematory before the Fresno crematory was built was in Oakland.
Mr. Lawrence Moore, president of the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, was also a
designer of cremation chambers. The developers of the Fresno crematory knew
nothing about cremation chambers and once they discovered Mr. Moore, they
contracted his services for the crematory.
The developers did not want to manage or run the crematory, so they were looking
for someone to take it over and they approached Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore agreed to
purchase the majority of the stock and he became the owner in 1919.
Herbert Hargrave worked for Mr. Moore at the Chapel of the Chimes and was asked
by
Mr. Moore if he would come to Fresno and help find someone who could manage the
chapel, with the agreement that when he found someone he could return to
Oakland.
Mr. Moore never found a manager and he remained at the chapel for 60 years as
manager.
The population of Fresno was less than 40,000 people then and most of the people
in town didn't know what a crematory was, nor did they have any desire to find
out. The national cremation rate was only 1% of the deaths.
Mr. Moore had his work cut out for him. He first made it a point to become known
in the community, and at that time there were many organizations that were very
active. He joined many of the clubs and lodges, as well as the Chamber of
Commerce. Soon, he became well known in the community.
During Christmas the crematory would put on religious programs and invite the
members of the churches to attend. Visitations were one of the best promotions.
Churches and charitable organizations were always looking for a way to raise
money. The crematory asked these organizations to a visitation at the crematory
and would pay $1 to the organization for each person that attended. These
visitations were held in the evening and a tour of the buildings was given and
we would explain what the crematory had to offer.
The crematory has become a place of early Fresno history. Many of the movers and
shakers are inurned in the old or original section.
The following are some of the prominent names you can expect to see:
Dr. Chester Rowell - owner of the Fresno Republican Newspaper, served
three years as state senator, and was mayor of Fresno. He died in office. A
statue of Dr. Rowell remains in the Courthouse Park. Dr. Rowell was inurned in a
silver urn, which was donated by the Armenian people of Fresno. When the
Armenian people migrated to the valley they did not have many funds and when
they became ill, Dr. Rowell took care of them and often did not expect any
remuneration.
T. W. Patterson - in 1888 he came to Fresno as a young real estate
capitalist and built the T. W. Patterson building which still is in existence in
downtown Fresno.
T. C. White was a raisin farmer and the first person in Fresno County to
plant a Thompson seedless vineyard. Mr. White also constructed the White Theater
and the Fresno Hotel.
M. Theodore Kearney was a person of great means and a developer of large
areas of property, primarily vineyards. He promoted the first California Raisin
Growers Association. He owned the Kearney Mansion and more than 5,000 acres of
land. Mr. Kearney died at sea in 1906 and his body was taken to his destination
in Europe and cremated there. The cremated remains were sent back to Fresno and
placed in a safe at the Kearney Mansion.
The University of California inherited all of Mr. Kearney’s property and after
the estate had been settled, they decided the cremated remains should be placed
in a permanent place, so they took them to the Fresno Crematory where Mr.
Hargrave helped them with the arrangements. They selected a small niche, up high
and not in the most desirable location.
When it came to the decision on the lettering of the nameplate, they decided to
use the name Kearney. Mr. Hargrave suggested they may want to use his first name
as well, but they did not know Mr. Kearney’s first name. They said Mr. Kearney
was a man of mystery. In the end, they decided to just use the name Kearney.
Robert Barton built the Barton opera house in 1890 and for a quarter of a
century the opera house was filled with professional music and was enjoyed by
all.
Oscar j. Woodward was a well-known banker throughout the valley. The
Woodward Park was named after him.
One of our most unusual urns is a replica of a home on Van Ness Blvd. Mr. &
Mrs. Ben Levy were in the process of building a home in what is now known as
Fig Garden on Van Ness Blvd. and the home was close to completion when Mrs. Levy
took a trip to Texas to visit her sister. Mrs. Levy was in an automobile
accident and was killed. Mr. Levy came to the chapel and made arrangements for
her niche.
Since Mrs. Levy had never lived in the home, her husband asked if a replica of
the home could be cast in bronze for her niche. Photographs of the home were
taken and given to our urn manufacturer and he was able to reproduce an urn in
the likeness of the home. This is a one of a kind urn. Both Mr. & Mrs. levy are
now inurned in the replica of their home. The home still exists on Van Ness
Blvd.
The first additions to the crematory were two columbarium rooms. The rooms were
faced with stone and beautifully designed. At that time they brought in Doris
Day, a protégé of Julia Morgan. Ms. Day had worked with Julia Morgan at Hearst
Castle for some years. Ms. Day did all of the interior designing of the
buildings and you will be able to appreciate her artistic ability when you view
these two rooms and the chapel, which she also worked on.
In the early 1940s a new service was added to the crematory and they built an
indoor mausoleum on the west end of the present buildings. It is a stately
building with terrazzo floors, Italian marble and beautiful outdoor garden
vistas.
In the mid 1950s, the chapel expanded even further into an outdoor mausoleum at
the west end of the buildings. This was the largest addition we had added to the
chapel. In 1955 Keith Hargrave, son of Herbert Hargrave joined the chapel as
assistant manager.
All of our future indoor additions were mausoleums and were built at the west
end of the buildings. We included niches within the mausoleum. Aaron Green, who
was a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed our new buildings. Mr. Green's
buildings reflect the very modern and beautiful design style of Mr. Wright,
which are reflected in the cathedral type ceilings and the beautiful pools and
fountains.
We continued to add on many more mausoleum buildings both inside and outdoors.
Along with our growth, more well known Fresno people were interned in the
buildings.
The most famous was William Saroyan, an author. When Mr. Saroyan passed
away they had a committee who was in charge of making all of the arrangements.
They came to the chapel and wanted to select a niche and two matching bronze
urns. One urn was placed in a niche in Fresno and the other was taken to Soviet
Armenia. The urns were engraved exactly the same, except for the one detail. The
committee insisted that the words "born in Fresno, California" appeared on the
urn.
J. C. Forkner - a land developer. His greatest and most memorable work is
in the Fig Garden area, which consisted of 12,000 acres. Mr. Forkner surfaced
120 miles of road and planted 600,000 fig trees and 60,000 ornamental trees.
Today this is still the most beautiful area in Fresno. Unfortunately there are
only a few fig trees left. Christmas Tree Lane and the Van Ness extension, with
all of the beautiful homes, are all a part of this Forkner acreage.
In 1979, Herbert Hargraver retired because of bad health and Keith Hargrave
became manager of the chapel.
In 1983, the chapel was sold to Buck Kamphausen, a funeral director. Mr.
Kamphausen, added another service to the chapel and that was the funeral home.
In order to become a full service death care operation he added lawn crypts in
our outdoor mausoleum area.
We are the only place in Fresno that can offer a full service arrangement. In
order to have a state-of-the-art funeral home we added 5000 square feet to the
facility, which consisted of a casket room, two state rooms, two offices, a
hospitality room and an apartment.
In December of 1997, the chapel was sold to "the Service Corporation
International" and many changes were made in the general operation of the
chapel. Plans were drawn for future development for both indoor and outdoor
crypts. The final decision was to add 126 lawn crypts and sell the indoor crypts
from a plan on pre-construction. We are sure there will be many more
improvements as time goes on. |
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