History

Thomas Hansen

In 1870, Thomas Hansen arrived in Kenosha from his native country of Denmark at the age of 17. He was a carpenter by trade and reportedly spent some time in Chicago helping with the rebuilding efforts after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

In 1880, Thomas Hansen entered into the funeral directing and furniture business. One of the first colleges of embalming in the United States, The Oriental School of Embalming, was only in its second year of existence when he attended in 1883. In 1892, Thomas Hansen closed the furniture portion of his business and focused exclusively on funeral directing.

Thomas Hansen was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Funeral Directors Association and served as President from 1887-1888 and again in 1892. His sons, Alwin and J. Mark, joined their father in the funeral business serving the Kenosha community as Thomas Hansen and Sons. Alwin continued to follow in his father’s footsteps, and served as President of the Wisconsin Funeral Directors Association in 1926.

In 1910, Nicholas P. Mischler entered into the profession of funeral director and operated Mischler’s Home of Funerals. His son, N. Emory Mischler, continued the family tradition and, in 1986, marked 50 years as a licensed funeral director.

In 1979, Paul Lendman purchased the funeral home from the Mischlers and operated the Lendman-Mischler Funeral Home until 1999.

Thomas Hansen and Sons and Lendman-Mischler Funeral Home merged in 1999 and entered a third century of serving the families of Kenosha and the surrounding areas as Hansen-Lendman Funeral Home.