By Harrison Power
When it gets to be that spooky time of year, one’s mind may easily drift toward scenes of the macabre and characters that go bump in the night, or perhaps of places that would give you the willies if stuck there overnight – mortuaries, cemeteries, or crematoriums! While Modesto has its historical cemeteries and a number of funeral homes, history shows that in order to find the origins of cremation in town, you do not have to go as far back as you may think. In fact, the presence of crematoriums in Modesto is a rather modern development, dating back only two decades, despite the longtime presence of mortuaries and embalming facilities in downtown Modesto.
There are funeral homes that readily come to mind for long-time Modesto residents, like Franklin and Downs, which used to be located at the corner of 12th and G Streets before expanding to their McHenry Avenue location. But, these funeral homes in Modesto for well over a century offered only primarily traditional funeral preparation services. At the start of the 20th Century, if cremation was preferred to standard burial, Modestans had to send their deceased loved ones to mortuaries in neighboring cities or to places as far as the Bay Area that provided cremations. These included the California Crematorium (1909) in Oakland and the Park View Crematorium (1917, the first in San Joaquin County) near Manteca, along with Sunset View Mortuary (1908) near Berkeley, the Casa Bonita Crematorium (1928) in Stockton, and the East Lawn Crematorium (1904) in Sacramento.
It was not then until the turn of the 21st Century that the prospect of a crematorium opening in Modesto was presented. At that time, Modestans relied on the more local options of Ceres Memorial Park and Lakewood Memorial Park near Hughson for cremation services. In August 2002, Charles Evans II, proprietor of Evins Funeral Home, announced his intent to build and operate what would become the city’s first crematory at his 1219 7th Street funeral home. But, as in other towns where funeral homes attempted to introduce cremation services in the more modern era, this proposal was rife with controversy, primarily concerns of odor and emissions. Even the Mayor at the time, Carmen Sabatino, was worried about the notion of a crematorium in the downtown area and its effects on economic development. But, the permit was granted by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, stating there was no significant health risk posed by the proposed crematorium. The permits granted between August and October 2022 then triggered a lengthy process of meeting infrastructure needs and city requirements in order to be able to move forward.
Ultimately, in November 2003, the 12-ton crematory machine was delivered to Evins and installed, which officially meant cremation would be available to Modestans in Modesto. Even though Modesto’s first crematorium is no longer located at 1219 7th Street, the former mortuary has been home to another business fitting for the spooky season all year round – the Daydreams and Nightmares costume shop!
