Alden Harrington Funeral Home 214 Oak St Bonner Springs, KS 66012 Phone:
(913) 422-4074
Email:
jwh@kc.rr.com
Our History
Our History
Serving since 1908
We are proud to be a family Funeral Home with more than four generations in the business. We grew up here in Bonner Springs, KS, and we are glad this community is part of our history. We are here to help the fantastic families near -and not so near- with any burial, cremation, and funeral arrangements they need. It's our family tradition!
Family Operated
Since the Beginning
Over five generations ago, at the turn of the twentieth century, Frank Alden and their wife Laura DuBois Alden married in 1899 in Monticello Township in Johnson County, Kansas. Frank moved to Bonner Springs in 1904 to work for W.S. Twist, the sitting president of the Kansas Funeral Directors Association, as he operated a large mercantile business and funeral establishment.
Women and Men
with Ethics and Passion
Mr. Alden later attended the Barnes School of Anatomy, Sanitary Science, and Embalming in 1905. After completing his schooling and graduating, he was granted Kansas Embalmer's License No. 144 and returned to continue work with Mr. Twist until he, and his wife, Laura DuBois Alden, established the start of our current funeral business in Bonner Springs in September 1908, known as Frank Alden Undertaker, or Frank Alden & Company. At that time, Bonner Springs had a population of just under a thousand residents, but since has grown to be a city of nearly 8,000. Bonner Springs is on the Kaw River, twelve miles west of Kansas City, Kansas.
Always Looking for the Best Facilities for Our Clients
The first location chosen for the funeral business was a white brick building in the back of the livery stable at the corner of Cedar and Front Streets. Frank Alden was a direct descendant of John, and Priscilla Alden is said to be the first person from the Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620. His Mother and Father were married in the old Shawnee Mission, established by the Methodists as one of the first missions to the Indians in Kansas.
Frank Alden died in September 1924 at the young age of 48. In January of 1923, his daughter, Irene Alden, was united in marriage to J. Ward Harrington, who was to be quickly put to the test of operating the funeral home. By this time, the business had moved to 117 Oak Street in Bonner Springs and had advanced from the horse-drawn hearse to the auto hearse. Ward Harrington also graduated from the Williams Institute of Embalming in 1924 and received funeral director license No. 61 and embalmer's license No. 1365. At this time, the business was known as Alden and Harrington, Undertakers. Thus, from 1924 until the death of Mrs. Laura Alden in 1936, the business was continued by Mrs. Alden, Ward, and Irene Harrington.
Early in 1937, Mr. and Mrs. Ward Harrington purchased a site long desired by Frank Alden for a new funeral home at 214 Oak Street. This gave the community a long-needed establishment that could adequately serve its needs. They also began an ambulance service available for anyone who needed an emergency vehicle in Wyandotte, Johnson, Leavenworth, or Douglas Counties (and sometimes much farther). After serving the community for many years, the ambulance service ended in 1974 when Bonner Springs purchased two ambulances to care for the residents.
In 1956, an addition was added to the funeral home, which included a new selection room, a new preparation room, new living quarters upstairs, and a large covered drive along the back and one side of the building, with an entrance from the chapel, family rooms, and preparation room, adding ease in directing friends attending services. Both Irene and Ward Harrington were quite active in state and civic affairs.
Mrs. Harrington served as Worthy Matron of Eastern Star, a church officer, a Business & Professional Woman, and past president of several local clubs. Mr. Harrington served as President of the KFDA in 1965, had attended 50 consecutive NFDA conventions, had been past president of the Bonner Springs School Board and Chamber of Commerce, and secretary for the Masonic Lodge for 30 years, and was involved in the building of the Lions Park, which was later donated to the city of Bonner Springs. Irene Alden Harrington passed in June 1961, later to be joined by J. Ward Harrington in 1981.
Ward and Irene's youngest son, John Howard Harrington, graduated from the Commonwealth College of Mortuary Science, Houston, Texas, in 1962, and holds funeral director and embalmer licenses in both Kansas and in Missouri, and has been President and owner of Alden-Harrington Funeral Home since 1981. John is a member or past member of numerous civic and community organizations. He was joined by his wife Connie, who received her funeral director's license in 1972.
Alden-Harrington Funeral Home: Bonner Spring's Caregiver
Representing the fourth generation of our family in the funeral business are Jeff and Brad Harrington, both licensed funeral directors and embalmers serving as General Manager and Managing Director in day to day operations. In 1988 the Harrington family also started Harrington Floral, a flower shop in Historic Downtown Bonner Springs that is currently run by John and Connie's daughter Andrea Harrington-Summers and her husband Scott.
Over the past century our family has been proud to service and care for the families of our community and is honored to continue this tradition into the future.