Southwestern Indiana funeral home celebrating 2 centuries

VINCENNES, Ind. (AP) - A southwestern Indiana funeral home that's believed to be the state's oldest continuously operated business is celebrating its 200th year.

The Gardner-Brockman Funeral Home traces its roots to 1816, when Andrew Gardner began making cabinets in Vincennes but quickly switched over to making coffins.

The business will celebrate its long history with a Dec. 3 open house in the historic city about 40 miles north of Evansville.

Chris Sievers is one of funeral home's three partners. He tells the Vincennes Sun-Commercial (http://bit.ly/2fkFiKe ) the Gardner Funeral Home was merged with the Brockman Funeral Home in 1998 after both were purchased by another company.

Sievers says the business was corporation-owned until 2011, when it was acquired by Goodwin Funeral Homes and became locally-owned once again.

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Information from: Vincennes Sun-Commercial, http://www.vincennes.com