Excelsior Springs, Mo. – Along Broadway Avenue in Excelsior Springs, businesses showcase the community’s carefully chosen character. One such business remains a testament to time, witnessing the ongoing transformations through history: the Bross and Spidle Funeral Home and Cremation Services.
The story of the building goes back beyond 1890, supporting decades of community service in Excelsior Springs, along with its architectural character as it became a place of mourning. It continues to serve as an archive of long-standing historical significance.
Before becoming a funeral home, the building at 217 West Broadway Avenue started out as a boarding house. According to Excelsior Springs’ historical records, it was built before 1894 and was known as the German House, the Foley House, and the McGaugh House.
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps document the buildings’ development through the early 1900s until 1922, initially as a boarding house, with different names over the years. There is also documentation listing the facility under the name of the ‘Bluebird Rooms’, providing a place for visitors to stay when coming to Excelsior Springs to enjoy the town’s mineral waters, bath houses, and physician clinics.
Now known as Bross and Spidle Funeral Home, the building features unique architectural details. Intricate Italianate brackets, tall narrow windows, and a wraparound porch that, according to records, was later enclosed to connect the main building with a southeast outbuilding. The one-story hexagonal bay that once stood at the northeast corner also included a central bay porch, welcoming those who came to stay.
Later, the building underwent a transformation in the 1940s as it became a hub of mourning under the name of the Prichard Funeral Home.
According to archival newspapers, the Prichard family had deep roots in the community. As reported, a woman named Ruth Ray moved to the area in August 1919 with her son, Robert. Two years later, Ruth married Claude Prichard, who worked at the Herbert Hope Mortuary on Thompson Avenue, across the street from McCleary Hospital. In 1934, the Prichard family purchased the building at 217 West Broadway, operating it as a funeral home until 1955.
Claude passed away the following year, in 1956, but the Prichard name remained associated with the funeral home even as ownership changed over the years. Records show that in January 1999, the funeral home was acquired by D.W. Newcomer’s Sons through Steward Enterprises, a company based in New Orleans. During this period, concerns arose about how the new ownership might impact the funeral home’s operations and the business’s future.
However, Dan Hocklander, a spokesman for Newcomer’s and Son’s, reassured the community, stating, “Anyone attending a funeral at Prichard Funeral Home would not notice any difference. There will be the same employees, the same management, and the same style.” The acquisition was still in its “period of diligence,” but Hocklander’s message was clear: the heart of the funeral home would remain unchanged within Excelsior Springs.
It wasn’t until March 2004 that the funeral home returned to private ownership under the name Prichard-Runyan Funeral Home. At that time, it was the only facility for mourning and burial in the community. During this transition, the staff maintained the same approach to operations, stating in the local newspaper, “We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Nevin Spidle, one of the licensed funeral directors and embalmers. “Whenever you need us, we will be there to help you.”
Later, Spidle was joined by Larry Thompson and Ron Bross, both of whom were also licensed funeral directors and embalmers. Others on staff, including Jackie Bollinger, Joanna Burchett, Betty Siegel, Ken Craven, Ray Adkins, Matt Tori, and George Noble, remained dedicated to what the Prichard family began in 1934, as Bross was quoted as saying, “We are here to help you at a difficult time as you honor your loved one.” Thompson also added that the funeral home, along with the acting staff, “is here as a community service and a neighbor that is always ready to help in times of need.”
Although the building underwent physical transformations and changed ownership, the local business’s core philosophy remained to serve families with dignity, compassion, and value. The code of conduct for those the business served also remained the same, with the funeral home continuing to honor people of different faiths, traditions, and customs, so that everyone mourning a loved one could find a meaningful farewell for each life the building had helped celebrate.
The building itself also underwent changes over the years, not just through various ownership, but also after sustaining damage from a nearby fire. According to historical records, the building underwent revitalization after the Baptist Church across the street was destroyed by fire.
Today, the building still stands along Broadway Avenue, continuing its long tradition of helping those in mourning and their loved ones under the name Bross and Spidle Funeral Home and Cremation Services, as they state, “A funeral should be a personal and meaningful experience. At Bross and Spidle Funeral Home and Cremation Services, our goal is to help you through this difficult time as you honor your loved one.”
The funeral home still remains open and independently owned, offering the same full-service facility it did when it was first converted from housing the living to burying those who have passed.
A previous employee was quoted as saying, “This place isn’t just about endings. It’s about the stories we carry forward.” In that sense, the funeral home at 217 West Broadway is more than a business; it’s a living archive of Excelsior Springs’ past.
If you appreciate the value our local journalism brings to the community, please consider making a recurring contribution to the Excelsior Citizen!
