Funeral Home Recognized For 150 Years Of Service To Hatboro

HATBORO, PA — For over 150 years, the Schneider Funeral Home has called the borough home.

At Monday night's Hatboro Borough Council meeting, the funeral home was honored and presented with a certificate for its "outstanding support of Hatboro residents, business owners, and organizations."

Schneider Funeral Home has called Hatboro home since Groh Schneider Sr. broke ground at 431 N. York Road in June 1959.

The Schneider family has been serving families for five generations, and according to Henry Schneider’s great-great grandson Brandt, “One of our future goals is having a 6th generation to continue our service.”

Brandt said the idea started with his great-great grandfather Henry, who is the first generation of five of them. He also said that undertakers were furniture makers and traditionally, undertaking would involve building everything from chairs to anything dealing with wood, including caskets.

March 22, 1870, was a red-letter day in the life of one Henry Schneider, who made a simple entry in his Schneider Funeral Home ledger at 1739 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia. Little did he know that this same profession as a funeral director would be continued for four more generations of Schneiders by his son Walter A.A., grandson A. Groh, great grandson A. Groh Jr., and great-great grandson Brandt.

In the plans for the enlargement of their hat industry, John B. Stetson included 1739 Germantown Avenue, the original site of the Schneider Funeral Home.

Since Stetson already had possession of properties on both sides, this forced move was to the advantage of Mrs. Henry Schneider, a widow at this time, borough officials said.

Mrs. Schneider finally selected to settle at 619 W. Olney Avenue in 1922. After her death, her son, Walter A.A. continued serving the area in the Schneider tradition, until 1951 when he semi-retired and his son A. Groh Schneider Sr., followed in his footsteps.

People moving out of Philadelphia into the suburbs and the lack of available ground for suitable parking was the impetus for Groh to seek a suitable location and funeral home for his own design. 431 N. York Road in Hatboro then came into play. In June 1959 the ground was broken for the first building of its kind in Hatboro, a home built to serve as a Funeral Home.

On June 1, 1971, A. Groh Schneider Jr., took over ownership of the funeral home and in 2008 his son, Brant started his career serving the community a long side with him. Schneider’s Funeral Home offers all types of traditional and cremation services as well as providing services for all faiths.

The Schneiders are well known in the community by representing the Hatboro Little League for over 28 years, and Mr. Schneider has been a member of the Hatboro Rotary for over 50 years, and both he and Brandt are part of the Masonic Lodge.

Brandt also stated that his grandfather Groh Sr. was a lawyer in Hatboro for the firm of Schneider, Nixon and John so they have very close ties with the borough.