THE HISTORY OF PORTER'S FUNERAL HOME
FIVE FAMILY GENERATIONS SINCE 1869

In 1839 Abijah Flagg moved his furniture store and funeral home from Berlin to New Britain. In 1857, his son, William, sold the business to Joseph G. Thompson who sold it to Bryan Churchill Porter in 1869 and it became B.C. Porter's, Inc. The company rented a three-story building on Main Street next to the railroad tracks north of the intersection with West Main Street. The first floor was the furniture store, the second floor was the funeral home and the third floor was the Porter family residence. In 1885, the company moved to its newly constructed location at 222 Main St. on the green in the center of town. The funeral home operated in a portion of 222 Main St. with the furniture store, and was soon after moved to the 19 Court St. location. Upon his death in 1891, Bryan's sons, Frank and Eugene, followed their father and the company became B.C. Porter & Sons. The furniture store and funeral home became two separate corporations under the direction of Maxwell S. Porter (grandson of the founder) in 1959. Eliot H. Porter II (great-grandson of the founder) then presided over the funeral home until 1984 when his son, Christopher H. Porter, represented the fifth generation, and became the president of the funeral home presently operating at 111 Chamberlain Highway in Kensington. Other members of the fully-licensed staff include Tena Rose who joined the firm in 1995, and Arthur Goodyear who has been with the company since 1947, and keeps active with the firm from June until October of each year. Well-versed in the traditions of a multitude of faiths and continuing to be a leader in the industry, Porter’s has been one of the first funeral homes to serve customers with legally accepted pre-need requirements, with cellular phones that enable better availability to families, and with on-line communications with the newspapers for obituary accuracy. In the day of mergers and big corporate takeovers, Porter’s is proud to maintain that family to family tradition of trust and faith that has spanned 136 years.