"The splendor of this precious marvelous pillar is part of our history and her
impressive silhoutte survives and stands alone". Deanna
"How lovely is the funeral home who comforts me and host my final visit on earth. The artist embalms
and transforms my flesh with the touch of his brush. At last, my body wrapped in fine linen,
my hair twined with baby's breath, and lips painted red. I am young once more and my worn out
body and weary face renewed. As a new born babe I sleep. My last bed on earth, so soft and comfortable,
may I Rest in Peace." Deanna
The cultural & historic significance of the Stephens and Bobbitt Funeral Home.
The significance is the contribution of Stephens & Bobbitt, to the broad patterns of San Bernardino's
history and heritage. Therin lies the crux of the issue and aroma of the cultural and historical significance.
*A historic day for San Bernardino. On 08/05/05, 10.37 a.m. at the State Capitol, the Stephens
and Bobbitt funeral home is listed as a Significant Cultural and Historical resource. The members of
the State Commission approved the nomination and listed the property to the California Register.The chairperson noted the listing
as an excellent cultural and historical resource for San Bernardino, Further, the chairperson point out the City must
be grateful for Janet Hansen and the author to have worked diligently to make this historic day.
Researched by the author and prepared by Janet Hansen, a highly regarded historic resource consultant.
Please note, the research and preparation exceeds the findings below. The actual research and report is triple
fold in content. The research is dedicated in memory of George & Kathryn Stephens and James & Lulu Bobbitt
who contributed to the heritage of San Bernardino. May this research be a blessing to Gary Bobbitt, son of Russell Bobbitt,
and grandson of James Bobbitt.
The funeral home of
Stephens and Bobbitt.
At the end of the nineteenth century, most American communities had undertakers who
would go to the home of the deceased and take care of activities, such as funeral arrangements, casket selection, and
coordinating the burial site with the local graveyard. By the turn of the century, a variety of institutional and cultural
changes contributed to the removal of the dead from the home. In his work, Rest in Peace, author Gary Laderman
discusses changes in home design ande domestic space, including the disappearance of the parlor where funerals typically took
place, as well as the standardization of embalming in the preparation of the dead for disposal. From the beginning of the
twentieth century, embalming was the lifeblood of the American funeral industry and the job of funeral directors became viewed
as a profession. Between 1900 and 1920, schools devoted training embalmers appeared in cities throughout the United States
including Los Angeles. However, as Laderman states:"for the public to fully relinquish control over the dead body, lose
traditional familiarity with it in everyday life, and embrace the entire range of services offered by the funeral
director another mortuary innovation would have to appear: the American Funeral home. The rise of funeral homes in communities
throughout the nation created a new social space for preparing, displaying, and community with the dead. The introduction
of the automobile, expansion of telephone lines, and advances in public sanitation all contributed to the viability and efficiency
of separate funeral homes that cared for the dead.
In both interior layout and facilities, the funeral home provided a domesticated space to care for the deceased
and help meet the mourners need for closeness with the body.
The buildings featured private rooms (not seen by the public) where chemical embalming and body prepart\ion
took place, casket display rooms, livingrooms or "slumber rooms, a chapel living quarters for the undertaker and his family,
and a garage for the business hearses. By the 1920's funeral homes became the primary place for carrying responsibilities
associated with burial and were conveniently located within the communities they served.
In the City of San Bernardino, the mortuary business has always been relatively small. The Sanborn \Fire Insurance
Map from 1894 shows an undertaking business at 544 3rd street. City directories from 1902 list three undertakers,all of which
were located within a block of each other on 3rd street between E and 3rd streets -- W.D.Aldridge (444 3rd street), Barton
& Catick. (544-546 3rd st), and McDonald Brothers (372-374 3rd st) All three undertakings businessess were in the
heart of San Bernardino's downtown commercial core located within the original townsite founded in 1854. This mile square
area was bounded by present day 10th St to the north, Rialto avenue to the south, Sierra Way to the east, and I street
to the west.
The next available directory in 1906 shows that George Stephens was now in business with W.D. Aldridge
as Aldridge & Stephens. Just one year later, the firm became Aldridge, Stephens & Dean, relocated to 410-420 E street.
Barton & Catic moved across the street to 579 3r street. By 1911, Stephens & Son are listed as undertakers at 420
E street and were no longer in partnership with Aldridge & Dean. Barton & Catick became J.W. Barton & Company
at 457 4th street The new firm of Mark B. Shaw appeared at 496 5th street. By 1913, McDonald Brothers is listed at J.D.
McDonald Undertaking Company at 455 4th Street.
In 1920 , only the firms of Stephens & Son, still at 420 E street, and Mark B. Shaw, now at 468 5th
street, remain listed as undertakers. The 1926 directory indicates that J.W.Woodhouse & Company was in business ast 597
4th street and George Stephens went into business with James D.Bobbitt to form Stephens & Bobbitt. By 1928, the firm relocated
to a new Spanish Colonial Revival style building at 1156 North F street, several blocks north of the downtown area where mortuary
businessess had been located since the turn of the century. At the same time, J.W. Woodhouse & Company built a new Spanish
Colonial Revival style building at 1354 Mt. Vernonl, and by 1944, J.W.Woodhouse & Company became Kremer Funeral
Home. In 1948, the Colonial Revival style Harrison-Ross Funeral Home was constructed on East Highland Avenue (22 nd street),
signaling the beginning of the move of mortuary businesses outside of the city's historic core. The company remains in business
today.
In 1955, the long time Mark B. Shaw mortuary building at 468 5th street was demolished to make a way
for a new furniture store. The chapel was remodeled and leased as commercial space, but no longer exist. The same year,
the company moved to a new California Ranch style mortuary building at 1525 North Waterman avenue, only a few blocks from
E. Highland Avenue , and continues to operate today at this location. Tillies funeral home was demolished some time after
1951, and in 1964 the new Bobbitt Memorial chapel opened at 1299 E. Highland avenue. Today, there are four mortuary
businesses located on East Highland, all of which are in proximity of Mt. View Cemetery. (established 1907)
Of the various locations used for San Bernardino undertaking businessess before 1948, only the buildings 1156
North F street and 1354 Mt. Vernon avenue remain. The Kremer Funeral Home on Mt. Vernon avenue is currently used
by the Baptist Church. The spanish colonial revival style building has had some alterations since its
construction, including the removal of the original clay tile roof and covered walkway to the facade entrance.
The integrity of setting has also been diminished by surrounding commercial development. The Stephens and Bobbitt Mortuary
has had only minor alterations over time. With the exception of the replacement of some windows with
aluminum frame windows, and removal of the porte cochere on the south side elevation, the building remains remarkably intact,
including the interior plan, site design, and overall setting.
George M. Stephens was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and came to San Bernardino via Canada in the late nineteenth
century. As indicated above, he became involved in the undertaking business in San Bernardino in 1906, joining the firm of
W.D. Aldridge to form Aldridge & Stephens. Stephens & Son was in business independently following the partnership
with Aldridge, from about 1911 to 1923. At that time, Stephens went into business with James D. Bobbitt and formed Stephens
& Bobbitt. James D. Bobbitt and family came to San Bernardino from Lynchburg, Ohio, in 1923. Descendants continue to operate
the funeral home in San Bernardino on East Highland avenue. The Bobbitt Memorial Chapel is one of the oldest continuously
owned and operated businessess in the San Bernardino County area. It is also one of the only family owned
funeral homes businessess remaining in the San Bernardino County area.
Stephens & Bobbitt built a new funeral home for the business in 1928 on land that George and Kathryn Stephens
purchased in a residential neighborhood on the west side of North F street just below Baseline Road. The Stephens
purchased the property from George N .Voss, a well known and established local developer and contractor who designed and built
the mortuary building. The mortuary is a good example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style,popular throughout Southern
California in the early decades of the twentieth century and in particular the 1920's and 1930's. In San Bernardino,
the style was favored for civic and commerial buildings as well as apartments and single family residences. The Stephens
and Bobbitt Mortuary building is highly utilitarian on the side and rear elevations with the facade reflecting elements
of the Spanish Colonial Revival style in its use of arched openings, entrance arcade, clay tile roofing, and wrought iron
details. The building maybe one of the first mortuaries in San Bernardino designed and built specifically for that purpose
as it was common for existing buildings to be converted to funeral homes in the early decades of the twentieth century.
The public opening of the new mortuary building was on Sunday, October 14, 1928. The event spurred an almost entire page of
articles ande illustrations in the San Bernardino Daily Sun newspapr. As stated in the article:"Virtually in the center of
the city's population and in a district that is separated from the hustle and noises of the congested business zone
in the new funeral home of Stephens and Bobbitt. The modern work of a funeral director is to comfort as
well as to bury and with these ends in view George M. Stephens and J.D. Bobbitt...have embodied in their new building
an atmosphere of home rather than an office or business building.
As the article suggests, the mortuary was sited in a residential neighborhood. In contrast to the commercial
setting of earlier funeral homes. As San Bernardino experienced the growth of the boomin the 1920's, the commerical core no
doubt became less than conducive to the quiet domesticated atmosphere then required of the funeral business. By this
time the former farm lots that surrounded the original townsite had been subdivided for residential and commercial use and
the urbanized area of the city expended to 16th street to the north, Waterman to the east, Mill Street to the south,
and beyond Mt.Vernon to the west. The chosen site for the new cementary was within the neighborhood that
included turn of the century Victorian era cottages, as well as numerous Craftsman bungalows built during the Arts and Crafts
perior and into the 1920's. The mortuary building like other public buildings within the neighborhood, was designed
to complement the overall scale, setting, and setbacks of the area. The interior of the building reflected all the conveniences
associated with a new funeral home during the first quarter of the twenthieth century. Characteristics of the property
type it featured a second floor apartment for the undertaker's family, slumber rooms, offices, casket display room,
and chapel.
George Stephens died in August 1935, but his wife Kathryn continued as owner of the mortuary that carried
the family name. In 1937, James and Lulu Bobbitt bought 1/2 interest
in the property on North F street from Kathryn, and a new chapel was built at the north end of the mortuary
building. The old chapel then served as a new casket display room. By 1964, the Bobbitt family renamed the business,
dropping the long time reference to George Stephens, and the new Bobbitt
Memorial Chapel opened on East Highland Avenue.
The funeral home was sold to the San Bernardino Lodge of the Odd Fellows. Since the 1984. this historical pillar
is preserved and treasured by Victory Chapel.
