A Jefferson business that’s close to a century old is expanding to offer a new service.

Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home of Jefferson has been in the continual undertaking business since 1919, and owner Aaron Schroeder says soon they will offer cremation services locally. Since he bought the business less than ten years ago, Schroeder has contracted cremation services with Grandon Funeral and Cremation Care in Ames. However, he has since seen that the need for cremation has risen from ten-percent to 40-percent and he believes the trend will continue.

“So we started looking at the possibility of putting a crematory in. With the raise in cremation, like it’s going, we just think that right now it’s a good time to get in that field and let the families know that their loved one is with us the whole time.”

He points out that nationally cremation was over 50-percent of funerals last year, and he says a stat he saw was that cremation services are projected to be upwards of 85-percent by the year 2035.

Schroeder recently purchased a lot in the Greene County Development Corporation east business park on Gallup Road for the stand-alone crematory business. He says the reason he looked at that area was because it was zoned properly for the business as light industrial. The crematory itself weighs 25,000-pounds and is seven-feet-by-15-feet. The building that it will be housed in is 50-foot-by-80-foot which will be located south of the new Jefferson Veterinary Clinic.

Schroeder anticipates the facility to be open by the spring of 2019.