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Our Story
As the first funeral home in the United States, the history of Kirk & Nice is legendary. Since its founding in 1761, we at Kirk & Nice haven’t forgotten that personal attention and genuine care are the most important services we can provide. Like our forefathers, we also haven’t forgotten that the cornerstone of our business is community involvement and getting to know the people we serve.
Today, Kirk & Nice offers two funeral home locations conveniently situated on the grounds of beautiful memorial cemeteries: Kirk & Nice Suburban Chapel, Inc. at Sunset Memorial Park in Huntingdon Valley and Kirk & Nice, Inc. at George Washington Memorial Park in Plymouth Meeting.
At both Kirk & Nice funeral home locations, our continuing commitment is to serve each family as we would our own – with compassion, understanding and professionalism you can rely on.
A Brief History
The Kirk and Nice Funeral Home is the oldest, continuously operating funeral establishment in the United States. Its history portrays the evolution of the funeral trade in America from its ancestor, the carpentry shop.
Jacob Knorr, an architect by trade, bought acreage in the village of Germantown, farmland outside of Philadelphia, in April 1761. There, he opened a carpentry shop that became a major source of furniture making and repairs for the inhabitants of the small town. At that time, only a small portion of his shop’s orders was to make coffins. Coffin orders were placed with a mere string that had been measured against the deceased to be used to guide the carpenter’s coffin dimensions.
Knorr mentored many apprentices of the carpentry trade at his shop including his sons George and Jacob Jr., who succeeded him after his death in 1805. In 1813 Jacob Jr. died and the business was purchased by William Johnson, who was the son-in-law
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