History of Aderhold Funeral Home

Through operational and ownership changes in its history, Aderhold Funeral Home has provided a respectable and trustworthy service to the West area for over a century.

Early in the year 1896, George W. Brown opened a furniture and undertaking business, according to the July 17, 1906 issue of The West Times. He had a large stock of furniture and undertaker's goods. He was the first in this business to compete with Waco. In those days, it was common for furniture stores to carry a line of undertaker's goods. There were no funeral homes as such at that time. Funerals were conducted either in private homes or at churches.

The article states that Brown left West for a time and moved to Fort Worth. During that period, another furniture and undertaking business was started by D.N. Bates. Several years later, Brown came back to West and bought out Bates' large furniture company.

At some point within the next few years, the business was bought by William Wagley who conducted the business with the help of his son Silas Wagley. In 1902, West Furniture Company was organized by Silas Wagley and H.V. Aderhold. Mr. Aderhold later bought out his partner's interest in the business. He was a practical embalmer and a member of the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association of the state (his license still hangs on the wall in the front foyer of the present building).

In 1906, Aderhold formed a partnership with Mr. Krizan, S.B. Hajek, E.W. Kolar and J.A. Schiller. When the undertaking business was associated with the furniture company, hearses were available. At first, horse drawn carriages were used, and in 1916 the first mechanized hearse was purchased (an actual picture of that very same hearse, believed to be a 1916 Dodge is pictured above).

In 1932, the Aderhold Funeral Home building was constructed at 201 N. Reagan Street. Sometime later, the furniture and undertaking businesses separated ownerships and H.V. Aderhold became the owner of the funeral business. His son, Kyle Aderhold also became a partner in the firm. In 1945, Kyle bought the business from his father. However, two years later Kyle died and the business was resumed by H.V. Aderhold until his death in 1953.

The Payne Family

Harry Moore bought the funeral home in 1953 and operated the business under the name Aderhold-Moore Funeral Home until 1963, when it was purchased by Alvin R. Payne. The name was reverted back to Aderhold Funeral Home and the Payne family remains as owners since that date.

The funeral home went through a major remodeling and expansion in 1972, but it later became evident that the space was too small. So in December of 1994, Aderhold Funeral Home moved to its new and current location at 808 S. Reagan Street. The much larger structure is a very beautiful and well designed building with ample parking. We invite you to please take the video tour by pressing the button on the left side of any page to view all of our facilities as well as meet our entire staff.

In addition, since 1963, two funeral homes have served West and the surrounding communities.  On January 31, 2008 that changed as Aderhold Funeral Home bought Kotch Funeral Home when Joseph H Kotch, Jr. decided to retire for health reasons.  Although his building was not a part of the purchase, the remaining assets, including all Pre-Need Contracts were transferred to Aderhold at that time.