2023 24 Black Pages FINAL 2 - Flipbook - Page 108
THE HISTORY OF HUTCHINGS FUNERAL HOME, INC.
“The Oldest Operating African American Owned Funeral Home”
The year was 1895. The U.S. Census Bureau had just a few years before, in 1890 to be exact, stated
that Macon, Georgia had a population of 19,200. The City Council of Macon was discussing the
possibility of raising enough money to construct a bridge across the Ocmulgee River at Spring Street.
The automobile was yet about twelve years in the future in Macon. Gas and coal-oil were the main
sources of light, as electricity was just being introduced. Such was the life in Macon when C.H.
Hutchings, Sr., entered the funeral profession. There were no Black funeral establishments in Macon
at that time. The white firms served both white and Black families. C.H. Hutchings formed a partnership
with about nine other Blacks, and in 1900 opened an “undertaking company” known as C.H. Hutchings
and Company in the 400 block of Cotton Avenue.
In 1909, C.H. Hutchings offered to buy the interest of Frank Hubbard in the business, but Mr. Hubbard
did not wish to sell. C.H. Hutchings then sold his interest to Frank Hubbard. On January 1, 1910, C. H.
Hutchings opened his own undertaking company on Cotton Avenue in what is now known as the Walton
Building at the corner of Cotton Avenue and New Street, taking into the new business one of his sons,
Willie P. Hutchings. The firm was named C.H. Hutchings and Sons. In June 1920, Frank J. Hutchings
also entered the business with his father and brother.
The first piece of motorized equipment purchased by the firm was a 1916 T-Model Ford which was
purchased late in 1915. All funerals had been serviced with horse-drawn
equipment. In 1919, the first motorized hearse was purchased.
As the firm grew in its service to the public, it was realized that larger quarters
were necessary. In 1926, property was purchased on New Street which is
the present location. A building was constructed and was occupied by the
firm in June 1927.
A daughter of C.H. Hutchings, Mrs. Lawrence Smith, entered the business
as a lady attendant in 1935 and continued with the firm until her death in
1948. Willie P. Hutchings, who entered the business with his father at the
beginning in 1910, and served as co-manager and embalmer with his
brother, Frank J. Hutchings, died in 1949. The business was then under the
sole supervision of Frank J. Hutchings. William S. Hutchings, a grandson
of the founder and son of Frank J. Hutchings graduated from college in
1948 and from the Atlanta College of Mortuary Science in 1949. He
entered the business with his father in 1950.
Hutchings Funeral Home was remodeled and the facilities expanded in
1970. William S. Hutchings was owner/operator of the funeral home until
his death in 2000. His daughters, Sharon Hutchings, and Starr Hutchings
Purdue, who became the fourth generation of funeral directors when they
joined the funeral home in 1988 and 1997, respectively, today own and
operate the business. Bettye O. Hutchings, widow of William S. Hutchings
and a licensed funeral director, was the owner of Hutchings Funeral home
up until her death in 2021.
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