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Bennington, VT

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Hanson-Walbridge & Shea Funeral & Cremation Service

213 West Main Street
Bennington, VT 05201

PHONE: (802) 442-4329

Please contact us with any question, comments, or inquiries, and we will reply as soon as possible.

 
 


About Our Building

Our building at 213 West Main Street was built in the Civil War Era, completed in 1867 and occupied at that time by the John V. Hall Family.

Hanson-Walbridge Funeral Home - Bennington, Vermont Twenty-three years later, in 1890, John S. Holden moved his family to Bennington and took residence at 213 West Main. In the year prior, Mr. Holden had purchased the Hunt and Tillinghast Woolen Mills on Benmont Avenue with Charles Leonard. The John S. Holden Manufacturing Company, also known as the "Big Mill" and later Holden, Leonard and Company had become a thriving textile mill employing 350 people.

As the Holden Family became established as community entrepreneurs, benefactors and socialites their home at 213 West Main became a center of family and community social gatherings including a West Point wedding in 1935. The noted Victorian exterior and interior was indeed a community landmark.

Holden Family ownership continued until 1958 when the home was vacated by Alice Bickford, who died that year, and Lula Bassett, who moved to Old Bennington, residing there until her death in 1966. Both of these ladies were daughters of John S. Holden. Thus ended an era of Holden Family ownership 0f 213 West Main Street.

In 1958 Dean F. Hanson, owner of the Hanson-Walbridge Funeral Home, successor to the Walbridge Company, established in Bennington in 1884, purchased 213 West Main from the Holden Family. Mr. Hanson moved his funeral home from East Main Street to its present location at 213 West Main.

From 1958 to 2004 ownership was passed to the Covey Family in 1984 and, in 2003, to the Shea Family. The Hanson, Covey and Shea Families have maintained the Victorian character of 213 West Main with very few interior or exterior modifications. The fine old Victorian structure exists today, much as it was in 1867 and continues to exemplify the rich history of our New England community. It has been featured in several published articles including a photo story published several years ago in the New England Homes Journal.

1939 Packard Henney Hearse

This 1939 Packard Henney hearse was delivered to the F.J. Paine Funeral Home in Rochester, Minnesota on July 1, 1939.

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Hanson-Walbridge & Shea Funeral & Cremation Service - Bennington | (802) 442-4329
213 West Main Street, Bennington, VT 05201

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