Rosman-Uehling-Kinzer Funeral Home & Crematory Services

Description

In the year 1873, near the corner occupied by the Gambles Store, John E. Houston opend a combination furniture and undertaking establishment.

Seventeen years later, in 1890, he provided a new technique in the preparation of the dead - that of arterial embalming.  This was the first for the Beloit area.  

In 1898, Mr. Houston moved his business from his location on State Street to one on East Grand Avenue, adjacent to the old Goodwin Block.  During this move the firm discontinued retailing furniture and devoted their energy to the mortuary and picture framing business.

Rolf Rosman, who had been an employee since 1904, became a partner in 1910.  

In these first two locations, no provision was made to accomodate public funerals, that is, no funeral chapel.  So in 1912 Houston-Rosman Funeral Home erected a mortuary building on Pleasant Street, directly back of the building now occupied by Drekmeier Drug Company.  This new building provided some facilities which the previous locations lacked - a small public funeral chapel.  This was the first mortuary building in the City of Beloit.

Mr. Houston died in 1915 and Mrs. Rosman became the sole owner.  Also in 1915, he purchased the first motor driven funeral coach for the Beloit area families.

In 1918, Mr. J.E. Kinzer, a friend of Mr. Rosman, moved to Beloit from Whitewater to become a partner in the firm.  That same year Mr. Wallace B. Uehling of Shopiere became an employee of Rosman-Kinzer Company.

Due to expanding business, larger facilities were needed.  A new mortuary building was erected on East Grand Avenue, next to the present location of the Beloit State Bank.  In September of 1923, Rosman-Kinzer moved into its new building.

When Mr. Kinzer died in 1930, his wife, Anna Kinzer, became a partner and retained his ownership of her husband.  In 1933, Wallace B. Uehling, an employee for many years, became a partner in the firm.

Mr. Rosman died in 1941.  His ownership was inherited by his wife, Ethel Rosman, and his daughter, Roine Schofer.

Since there was still a need for more building space and parking area, in the year 1947 an addition was built on the East Grand Avenue building and more land was purchased for parking.

Because of residential development northeast of Beloit and to better serve people in that area, in 1962 a funeral chapel was built on the corner of Cranston Road and Dewey Avenue.  Upon the death of Mrs. Kinzer in 1965, her son, Philip Kinzer, became a partner in the firm.

In 1969, Rosman-Uehling-Kinzer Funeral Home changed from a partnership to a corporation, which involved changes to ownership.  The officers and Board of Directors of the newly formed corporation were as followed:   President - Wallace B. Uehling, Vice President - Philip Kinzer, Secretary - Lowell Bendorf, Treasurer - William Schofer.  Additional directors, who are also owners of the corporation, were Gerald Hereford and G. Curtis Lansbery.

The corporation, realizing that the Grand Avenue property, located in a busy business section, was not adequate either in floor space or parking area, decided to enlarge the Cranston Road facility, adding additional parking area and then to close the Grand Avenue location.

At the same time, to better serve residents of adjacent northern Illinois, a new chapel was built on Blackhawk Boulevard in South Beloit.

The Rosman - Uehling - Kinzer celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1973 while having two chapels.

As the years passed, the former owners of Bendorf, Hereford and Lansbery eventually decided to sell the business to a large comglomerate in the 1980's, Service Corp. based out of Texas. 

In 2002, Lance and Jeanne Bifulk purchased the funeral home from SCI and operated it as a locally operated funeral home until 2018.  On July 2, 2018, Jarod and Tania Williams, purchased Rosman Funeral Home after the Bifulk's decision to go into retirement.  As a twenty year licensed funeral director in Wisconsin and Illinois, we  promise to get back to our roots and serve the Beloit area families similiar in fashion in the past as the Rosmans, Uehlings and Kinzer families did.  

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