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225 W Monroe Street
New Bremen, OH
45869
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2019 marked 90 years in business for the Funeral Home located at 225 W. Monroe Street in New Bremen. The name of the business may have changed over the years from Gilberg & Hegemier to Gilberg Funeral Home, to its present name, Gilberg-Hartwig Funeral Home, but one thing has not changed – the care and dedication that is given to every family that we serve.
The funeral home had its beginnings back in the early 1920’s when Paul F. Gilberg was working with A.H. Albert Funeral Service of New Bremen during his high school years. In 1924 Mr. Albert helped to finance Paul’s education at the Cincinnati College of Embalming. After Paul had graduated from embalming school, Mr. Albert did not have a position open for him, so Paul found employment with Mr. Irwin Speckman, a local undertaker and merchant also of New Bremen.
In June of 1926, Paul and his friend Earl W. Hegemier joined together, and borrowed $250 from Earl’s father, Fred Hegemier. They drove a Model T Ford to Toledo, and purchased several radios, and brought them home to sell in New Bremen. This was the beginning of the People’s Radio and Gift Shop. For three years, Paul & Earl operated their business out of a rented a space in the old John Blase building on S. Washington Street (the current location of the Marathon Gas Station). In 1929, Paul and Earl bought the funeral business of A.H. Albert and moved their business to 5-7 N. Main Street, and renamed their business Gilberg & Hegemier. From this location they operated their retail store, as well as managed the funeral and undertaking business. They sold lamps, chairs, radios, refrigerators, wringer washing machines, as well as several caskets, which were stocked in a separate area of the store. The store did not function as a funeral home, because in those days, funerals were conducted in the homes of the deceased – including embalming and visitation of the deceased.
In 1937, Gilberg & Hegemier moved the funeral portion of their business to 225 W. Monroe Street (the present location of the Funeral Home). This was Paul’s home, and originally the home of his parents, Fred and Margaret (Rattler) Gilberg. Here the pair operated the funeral business as well as an ambulance service for the New Bremen area for many years. In 1961, after 35 years of business together, Earl Hegemier sold his share of the businesses. This lead to the names of the two businesses to be changed to Gilberg Furniture and Gilberg Funeral Home.
