YESTERYEAR BY PAT SIDES
In this 1950s image, the white hearse hints at the original function of the buildings on Garfield stretching between Illinois and Indiana streets, now in use as apartments.
The structure in the foreground was the Albert Johann Memorial Chapel, which is seen from the intersection of Illinois and Garfield (looking southeast). It was part of the undertaking business established in 1866 by Albert Johann, Sr., who had arrived in Evansville from Germany in 1848.
After the Civil War, the Jacobsville neighborhood grew rapidly, populated by an influx of German immigrants; the mortuary filled a vital need in the neighborhood, eventually becoming the largest in the city.
Owned by the same family throughout its long history, the funeral home closed in 1979.
