Ravenswood resident Jessi DiBartolomeo has long been fascinated with the death industry in America, including how its corporatization has impacted long-standing local businesses. But she’s noticed several family-named funeral homes sprinkled throughout Chicago’s North Side.
Wanting to know more about the funeral industry’s history in Chicago, she asked Curious City:
Why are there so many historic family-owned funeral homes in Chicago, and how have they stayed open for so long?
To find out more, Curious City visited Barr Funeral Home in Edgewater. We learned about how the home has stayed afloat for nearly 100 years and what challenges the family anticipates in the future.
