Hearse

1893 Cunningham Coach Co. Hearse

One wooden horse-drawn hearse with an all-black exterior. It was built by the Cunningham Coach Company (Rochester, NY) for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and owned by William Frank Blake of the P. Blake & Sons Funeral Parlor in Detroit. There are extremely detailed hand-carved decorative elements around the majority of the exterior, which includes motifs featuring angels, cherubs, doves, and popular flowers used in mourning periods, such as gladiolus and roses. Large windows surround the body with two curved center windows on the longer sides. There are five cupolas on the roof: one small cupola on each corner and a large cupola in the center. The central cupola has small windows; some of them open. The interior is red mahogany and black tassels hang along the top edges of the windows. The interior of the center cupola is painted sky blue with gold and navy stars. The detachable leather seat cushion and seat tassels are kept in the storage space under the coachman's seat.