Dannel Funeral Home

After training in the mortuary sciences in Chicago, John C. Dannel moved with his new wife, Flossie Louella Wade, to Sherman, Texas, where he purchased the Sherman Undertaking Company. John’s father had owned and operated an undertaking parlor in Illinois, where John was born, and he followed his father into the business. The Dannel’s first funeral parlor in Sherman was located at the corner of Walnut and Houston streets, but the John C. Dannel Undertaking Company, as it was then known, moved into a renovated pool hall on the south side of the courthouse square in 1913. Dannel introduced the first motorized hearse to the area in 1917, but he was sued by the local livery stable which had until that time supplied horses and carriages for funerals. Dannel eventually won the case after a public fight that played out in the local newspaper. In 1923, Dannel hired architect John Tullock to design and build a structure dedicated specifically as a funeral home, one of the earliest such structures in the area. The building featured bedrooms for the family, as well as staterooms and a chapel for funerals. John C. Dannel’s son, Charles O. Dannel II, joined the family business after graduation from the University of Texas. Charles died in 1961 and his father died in 1963. At that time John Carlton Dannel II assumed management of the family business, becoming the fourth generation of Dannel funeral directors. John died in 1997, and his wife assumed ownership and management, continuing the family tradition of service to the citizens of Sherman and the surrounding community. (2009)

Dannel Funeral Home is a historical marker in Sherman, Grayson County, dedicated in 2009. It is one of 144 historical markers documented in Grayson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 208 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 33.6345, -96.6075 near Sherman. The nearest cataloged historic site is Sherman Public Library, Old (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Red River Historical Museum of Sherman, Walnut Street Church of Christ, and Central Christian Church.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507015840. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.