Dormont
 When Louis Beinhauer opened his first
mortuary downtown on Third Avenue, the year was 1860
and Pittsburgh was an active city.
Industrial advancements resulted in city growth, and
Louis with his son, Ferd C., anticipated the flourishing
city's needs.
They opened two branches of the original location
on the South Side: one on Sixth Street and the other
at the base of the old incline on Twelfth Street.
The Move up West Liberty Avenue
 Before long, Louis and Ferd C. were joined by the third
generation of Beinhauers, Ferd C. Jr. and Louis Jr.
In 1910 the family moved their business to West Liberty
Avenue in Dormont, a community in the South Hills.
They eventually incorporated all of their facilities
at this location in 1921.
A Pittsburgh development that facilitated the move
was the construction of the Liberty Tunnels. The tunnels
through Mount Washington made access to the South Hills
easy, and opened this area up to development.
No strangers to innovation, the Beinhauers built Pittsburgh's
first crematory in 1921. Still in operation today,
it is the second oldest continuously operating crematory
in the United States.
The Fire at West Liberty Avenue
 The Beinhauers' three-story mortuary in Dormont was designed
and built specifically for funeral services, the first
in Allegheny County. And although it was the first Beinhauer
mortuary built at 2630 West Liberty Avenue, it was destined
not be be the last.
Tragedy struck in 1952,
when a seven-alarm fire burned the funeral home to the
ground. The following is an excerpt from a Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette article that reported the blaze:
"Scarred walls and charred timbers were all that remained
yesterday of the funeral home of L. Beinhauer & Son
Company, one of Pittsburgh's oldest and busiest funeral
directors."
 Reestablishment
The Beinhauers salvaged what they could from out of the
rubble. Although saddened by the loss of their mortuary,
they moved to construct a new building where the old
one once stood. Built in ... and continously improved,
it remains a Beinhauer chapel to this day, serving the
needs of the South Hills community.Rebuilding the family business
would have been much more difficult at this time
had it not been for the efforts of Ferd C. III and
Louis III. The fourth Beinhauer generation to serve
the company, Ferd and Louis came on staff after the
Great Depression and World War II. Ferd, or "Fritz" as
he was known to his friends, was especially well-liked
in the community.
Beinhauer Today
Ferd III insured the fifth generation
of continuous family-owned funeral service with his son,
Richard C. ("Rick"). Rick became president of the company in 1979. His efforts to extend Beinhauer's
services to other areas of town began in 1982 with the construction of a new
chapel in Washington County. Two other chapels later became part of Beinhauer:
the Lutz funeral home in 1985 and the Connell home in 1995.
In 1996, the Beinhauer legacy continued as Rick's son Scott became the sixth
Beinhauer generation to serve the community. Furthering a committment to excellence that begun over 144 years ago.
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