Funeral Homes
vulnerable to population changes
THE FUNERAL HOME BUSINESS TENDS TO BE A STABLE ONE. WHILE OPENINGS AND
CLOSINGS OF OTHER BUSINESSES SUCH AS RESTAURANTS AND RETAIL STORES ARE
FAIRLY COMMON, THE CLOSING OF A FUNERAL HOME OR A CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP
CAN OFTEN BE A WAY TO TRACK SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS IN THE RACIAL, ETHNIC, OR RELIGIOUS
The old Robinson Funeral Home
in every case I have seen,” said
building on East Street with its
Odell Robinson III. “If a funeral home
distinctive green marble facade
truly shuts down due to non-demo-
could be considered a relic of a
graphic reasons, it usually re-opens
bygone era in Pittsburgh’s North
as another funeral home.”
Side community.
From Schellhaas to Sperling to
It was one of more than a dozen
Robinson, Simons and Brady, the
funeral home businesses that pros-
industry names have all adapted.
pered during the 1960’s when the
area was a melting pot of different
Mr. Robinson said funeral homes
racial and ethnic groups and reli-
are highly vulnerable to population
gious congregations that typically
changes because they operate on
supported a particular funeral parlor
small profit margins. He said the
because of its affiliation with their
average number of services for
group.
funeral homes around the country
is about 200 a year. In Pennsylva-
But the area endured significant
nia, he estimates funeral homes
changes in the mid-1980’s when
conduct about 60 services or
the construction of Interstate 279
fewer because they typically cater
displaced thousands of people who
to specific ethnic groups, races or
lived along the highway’s path from
religions.
the Allegheny River to McKnight
Road. Eventually all but one of the
18 funeral homes that had served
the area either shut down or moved
north along with their clientele.
The black-owned funeral home
business founded by Odell
Robinson’s father in 1950 at 614
Taylor Ave. was one of the four
black funeral homes and the
14 funeral homes serving the
“When a funeral home shuts down,
it’s a force of demographic trends
white community that were all
concentrated within a one-mile
radius on the North Side during
neighborhood up here was a nice
the 1960’s and 1970’s.
neighborhood and we had a lot of
The Robinson family in 1997
purchased the funeral home in
Perry Hilltop owned by G.S. Simons.
Mr. Simons owned another funeral
home on Old Perry Highway and
decided to move all his business to
that location. The Robinson family
closed the Taylor Avenue funeral
home and moved all its business to
Perry Hilltop.
“As our neighborhoods changed
as far as the lower North Side, the
PAGE
14
black people who moved into this
area,” Mr. Robinson said. “People
were looking for better schools,
better housing and things of that
nature.”