Cincinnati- Where the modern Hearse was born.

Did you know that the first motorized hearse was built in Cincinnati? By the same company that built the casket in which President Lincoln was buried?

In 1909 the world was changing. The first Lincoln-Head Pennies were minted, French flyer Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly a plane across the English Channel and on June 15th the Crane and Breed Company of Cincinnati Ohio introduced the world’s first commercially-built, gas-powered hearse. It was a 30 horsepower, four cylinder engine with a three speed transmission and boasted a top speed of 30 mph. Prior to this a handful of motorized hearses had been constructed by placing the body of a horse drawn hearse on an automotive chassis, but Crane and Breed were the first to build one as an automobile.

The motorized hearse was not the first innovation this Cincinnati company brought to the world. In 1855 Martin H. Crane, a company partner, designed a new casket that eliminated the mummy-like shape of the then popular Fisk patent burial case. The Fisk had been first metal coffin to gain widespread acceptance in the US. By simplifying the shape and decorations of the Fisk casket, and using rolled sheet iron instead of cast iron, the new Crane patent metallic casket was able to be mass produced at a lower cost. It was the Crane and Breed designed casket that was selected for the burial of President Abraham Lincoln.

In his day Martin Hale Crane was known about town for more than funeral industry innovations. In 1880 he was caught in a scandal involving a local married woman who was almost 30 years his junior. Jealous husband John Snell, a Covington liquor distributor once followed his wife Lou to what turned out to be a rendezvous with Crane. Gunshots were fired, apparently with Crane as the intended target, and Lou was hit in the shoulder. She recovered and Martin’s reputation for romancing the married ladies lived on.

Austin A. Breed was the son of founding partner William J. Breed and took over as company president in 1909. This year the company completed a 5 story addition to their building at 1227-59 West 8th Street, giving them over 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Here was where the first automotive hearse was built and made its debut in1909.

Austin Breed was president of the Casket and Funeral Supply Association of America from 1916 to 1918. He was the author of many brochures and booklets including The Tyler Davidson Fountain of Cincinnati (pub 1915). Some of his photographs from a trip to North Africa were published in the March 1917 issue of National Geographic.

Tragically, Austin Breed was found dead in his apartment in 1924. He had never married and was found by his maid. The apparent cause of death was suicide by poison. On the day of his death he was scheduled to appear in court regarding a $14.000 debt involving a bookstore in which he had partial interest. This was not considered a significant sum for a man of his means, A suicide note was left for his attorney. It was around this time that Crane and Breed ceased production of its motorized hearse.

By this time many other companies were in full production of their own versions of the motorized hearse. All of these models featured a body style that mimicked the traditional hearse drawn hearse with ornate wooden carvings on the sides and rear. This style would remain the norm until the 1930’s. Another Cincinnati company, Sayers and Scovill gets credit for popularizing the style that we now recognize as a hearse, with the long body, padded exterior and S shaped, landau bars. This Landau style hearse was made popular with their Victoria model in 1938.

Today many people remember Crane and Breed Co. for the cast metal paper weights that they produced and gave away as promotional items.

Crane and Breed remained in business until sometime around 1973. Their building was later demolished and on that site is now the Cincinnati Postal Employees Credit Union.