Our History


1890
  • D.W. Newcomer asked to make casket and begins business
  • William McKinley is President

1925
  • David Newcomer, Jr. expands business and purchases Plaza land in Kansas City
  • Teacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution
1936
  • Newcomer’s Plaza location expands
  • Hover Dam is completed after five years of construction
1945
  • Warren Newcomer, third generation, joins family business
  • World War II ends
1955
  • The Scrabble® board game debuts
1963
  • The Beatles invade America
1967
  • Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black member of the U.S. Supreme Court
1971
  • Kansas City location transferred to nephews, Warren Newcomer retains Topeka location
  • Nixon lifts 21-year embargo on Mainland China
1975
  • Warren “Ren” Newcomer, fourth generation, joins business
  • U.S. and Soviet Union agree to a joint space mission - Apollo and Soyuz
1981
  • Ren and Theresa marry
  • Ronald Reagan sworn in as 40th president
1988
  • CDs outsell vinyl records for the first time in history
1990
  • South Africa frees Nelson Mandela, imprisoned 27 1/2 years
1991
  • Mikhail Gorbachev resigns, signaling the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War
1994
  • Ren and Theresa Newcomer launch Newcomer Family Funeral Homes, a value-priced alternative to the high cost of funerals.
1995
  • Lakewood, Colorado funeral home opens in original location
  • Albany, New York location opens in a remodeled insurance claims office
  • The term “road rage” is added to the English dictionary
1996
  • The South Dayton, Ohio chapel opens in a remodeled grocery store
  • Akron, Ohio chapel opens in a remodeled cafeteria
  • President Clinton appoints Madeleine Albright, first female U.S. Secretary of State
1997
  • Topeka, KS chapel opens
  • Mother Theresa dies at age 87
1999
  • Tradition of Caring® Scholarship begins
  • The West Rochester, New York chapel opens
  • Citadel graduates its first woman
2000
  • Columbus, Ohio chapel opens in a new facility
  • The East Orlando location opens
  • Florida certifies George W. Bush as winner over Al Gore giving Bush the presidency
2001
  • Toledo, Ohio and North Dayton, Ohio chapels open
  • The East Rochester, New York chapel opens
  • Hijackers fly jetliners into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon
2002
  • Syracuse, New York location opens
  • Lakewood, Colorado chapel moves to its new location
  • Newcomer Family opens Memorial Expressions® monuments, markers & permanent keepsakes
  • American Idol: The Search for a Superstar premieres
2003
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger sworn in as Governor of California
2004
  • Aurora, Colorado location opens
  • Grove City, Ohio location opens
2005
  • Titusville, Florida location opens
  • Beavercreek, Ohio location opens
  • Lance Armstrong wins his 7th consecutive Tour de France