Dannel Funeral Home
Sherman, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
After training in the mortuary sciences in Chicago, John C. Dannel moved with his new wife, Flossie Louella Wade, to Sherman, Texas, where he purchased the Sherman Undertaking Company. John’s father had owned and operated an undertaking parlor in Illinois, where John was born, and he followed his father into the business. The Dannel’s first funeral parlor in Sherman was located at the corner of Walnut and Houston streets, but the John C. Dannel Undertaking Company, as it was then known, moved into a renovated pool hall on the south side of the courthouse square in 1913. Dannel introduced the first motorized hearse to the area in 1917, but he was sued by the local livery stable which had until that time supplied horses and carriages for funerals. Dannel eventually won the case after a public fight that played out in the local newspaper. In 1923, Dannel hired architect John Tullock to design and build a structure dedicated specifically as a funeral home, one of the earliest such structures in the area. The building featured bedrooms for the family, as well as staterooms and a chapel for funerals. John C. Dannel’s son, Charles O. Dannel II, joined the family business after graduation from the University of Texas. Charles died in 1961 and his father died in 1963. At that time John Carlton Dannel II assumed management of the family business, becoming the fourth generation of Dannel funeral directors. John died in 1997, and his wife assumed ownership and management, continuing the family tradition of service to the citizens of Sherman and the surrounding community. (2009)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Trained in mortuary science in Chicago, John C. Dannel bought the Sherman Undertaking Company and by 1913 had moved his parlor to the courthouse square. When he introduced the area's first motorized hearse in 1917, the local livery stable sued him—a public feud he ultimately won in the newspapers and the courts. In 1923 he commissioned one of the region's earliest purpose-built funeral homes, and the business carried on through four generations of the Dannel family.
Why it matters
The Dannels' story captures the modernization of everyday American life, as horse-and-carriage traditions gave way to the automobile even in the solemn business of burial.
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Related people
- · John C. Dannel
- · Charles O. Dannel II
- · John Tullock
Themes & tags
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