Baker Funeral Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Baker Funeral Home in Tarrant County. Now settle in, because this is a story about a man who looked at what his community needed — and then spent a lifetime building it, piece by piece, generation by generation. James Nathan Baker, Sr. started out working as a Pullman porter for the Santa Fe Railroad.

That's no small thing — those porters kept the whole country moving, on their feet through the night, serving strangers across thousands of miles of track. But James Baker had something else in mind. In 1917, he decided to open a funeral home in Cleburne, for the African American community there.

He got himself licensed as an embalmer in 1922, and he ran that operation with his mother-in-law, Mattie Gaston Barnes, right there in their home. Then in 1926, he and his wife, Ransome Antoinette, packed up and moved to Fort Worth. They opened the Baker Undertaking Company at a new site — in a house owned by his father, the Reverend Henry Baker.

That right there tells you something about the kind of roots this family had already put down. The business kept growing through the 1930s, which — and you know how the 1930s went — was no easy thing. After a building expansion, Baker added a community ambulance service in 1932.

That's not just funeral work anymore; that's a lifeline. Then in 1935, his brother opened a third Baker funeral home, this one in Mineral Wells. Three businesses, spread across the region, all of them serving African Americans at a time when that service was not guaranteed from anyone else.

In 1938, James Baker founded the Diamond Mutual Burial Association, helping clients plan ahead for funeral arrangements, so that when the hard day came, the community wouldn't be caught without a plan. And during the 1940s, he purchased People's Burial Park. The funeral home itself was remodeled and enlarged again.

He was always building, always adding. Baker's seven children had always been part of running the business — not just watching from the doorway, but in it, working it. James Baker finally retired in 1967.

When he passed in 1970, his son Herbert Victor Baker stepped into the presidency and kept the growth going, right up until his own death in 1989. And here's where the story doesn't end — it deepens. Today, Baker Funeral Home is owned and operated by the third and fourth generations of that same family.

They're still there. Still upholding what James Baker started. The marker calls it a community landmark and a cultural resource, tied to Fort Worth's historic African American community — its residents, its leaders, its churches, its cemeteries.

A Pullman porter in 1917 saw a need. By 2003, it had become a hundred years of keeping faith with the people who needed it most. Some buildings just hold more than walls and roof.

This one holds a community's trust, passed down like a deed from hand to hand.

What the marker says

After working as a Pullman porter for the Santa Fe Railroad, James Nathan Baker, Sr. decided to open a funeral home in 1917 for Cleburne's African American Community. Licensed as an embalmer in 1922, he operated a funeral home with his mother-in-law, Mattie Gaston Barnes, in their home. In 1926, he and his wife, Ransome Antoinette, moved to Fort Worth and opened a Baker Undertaking Company at this site in a house owned by his father, The Rev. Henry Baker.The Baker Funeral Home continued to grow in the 1930s. After a building expansion, Baker added a community ambulance service in 1932, and his brother opened a third funeral home, in Mineral Wells, in 1935. Together, the three businesses served African Americans throughout the region.In 1938, James Baker founded the Diamond Mutual Burial Association, which helped clients plan for funerals arrangements. During the 1940s, he purchased People's Burial Park. The funeral home was once again remodeled and enlarged.Baker's seven children had always assisted in running the business. He retired in 1967, and after his death in 1970, his son Herbert Victor Baker (d. 1989) became president. Under his leadership, the business continued to grow.Today, Baker Funeral Home is owned and operated by the third and fourth generations of family members who continue to uphold James Baker's commitment to service. A community landmark, the funeral home is a cultural resource, with connections to Fort Worth's historic African American community and its residents, leaders, churches and cemeteries. (2004)