Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center

What Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center does

Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center is a family-owned group of end-of-life services businesses headquartered in a historic mansion at 900 South Sixth St, Springfield, Illinois, tracing its origins to a 1893 merger of two Springfield funeral and livery operators. The company operates under the umbrella name Butler Family of Organizations and is owned by Chris Butler, third generation of the Butler family, who purchased the firm outright in 2002. It runs three Butler-branded funeral home and cremation tribute center locations (Springfield, Chatham, New Berlin) and a portfolio of wholly-owned subsidiaries: Butler Cremation Tribute Center, Butler Pet Services, Lincoln Land Cremation Society, Roselawn Memorial Park (cemetery), Boardman-Smith Funeral Home, Roselawn Pet Cemetery, and Prairie View Reception Center. In 2023 the group joined the Dignity Memorial network (SCI Shared Resources, LLC), one of North America's largest funeral, cremation, and cemetery service networks with over 1,900 locations.

The business generates revenue across five streams: at-need funeral and cremation services; prepaid funeral plans sold on installment contracts that lock in today's prices; sale of caskets, urns, keepsakes, grave memorials, and pet memorial products; cemetery property sales (burial plots, columbarium niches, green burial, upright markers) at Roselawn Memorial Park; and pet cremation and burial services through Butler Pet Services. Customer segments are end-of-life families (primary), pet owners, and veterans, served through direct-to-consumer channels including in-person, phone, and virtual pre-planning consultations. Community goodwill is cultivated through the Butler Community Endowment Fund (established 2005), which contributes to 20+ local charities in memory of each family served.

The firm carries no proprietary technology platform and operates as a traditional funeral services provider; its competitive position rests on 130+ years of brand heritage, multi-asset vertical integration across funeral, cremation, cemetery, and pet memorialization under one family brand, and the distribution advantages of the Dignity Memorial network. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, but prepaid installment plans, Relocation Protection (transferability to qualifying Dignity Memorial providers beyond 75 miles), Lifetime Flexibility on plan modifications, and a Purchase Protection Plan (up to $5,000 forgiveness on remaining cemetery balance for purchasers under 65) are core commercial features. The company is privately held, family-controlled, and was not disclosed to have any external funding rounds.

Name

Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center

Legal name

Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center

Website

https://butlerfuneralhomes.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1893

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center is a family-owned, Springfield-Illinois-based group operating funeral homes, cremation services, a cemetery, reception, and pet memorial businesses serving end-of-life families and pet owners in central Illinois, now affiliated with the Dignity Memorial network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Springfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Funeral and Cremation Services: Core revenue from providing funeral services (traditional burial, cremation, memorial services, celebration of life events) and cremation-only services. Services include body preparation, transportation, facility usage, and ceremony coordination.
2. Pre-need Planning and Prepaid Funeral Plans: Revenue collected in advance for funeral arrangements. Customers can pay in installments, locking in today's prices. Generates recurring revenue stream with long-term customer relationships.
3. Memorial Products: Sale of caskets, urns, keepsakes, grave memorials, and pet caskets and urns. These products are sold alongside services.
4. Cemetery and Cemetery Property: Revenue from cemetery burial plots, columbarium niches, and cemetery property at Roselawn Memorial Park. Also includes memorialization options for cremation, green burial, and upright markers.
5. Pet Services: Pet cremation and burial services through Butler Pet Services, including pet caskets, urns, keepsakes, and grave memorials. Separate division dedicated to companion animal memorialization.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center provides funeral, cremation, cemetery, and memorialization services to families and individuals across central Illinois from three physical funeral home locations (Springfield, Chatham, and New Berlin), a cremation tribute center, and a memorial park. The company also operates a pet cremation and burial division, a lower-cost cremation provider (Lincoln Land Cremation Society), and offers prepaid funeral plans with installment payment options and relocation protection within the Dignity Memorial network.

Product overview

The Butler Family of Organizations operates a multi-location network of funeral homes, cremation services, cemeteries, and pet services across the Springfield, Illinois area. The portfolio includes three Butler-branded funeral home and cremation tribute center locations (Springfield, Chatham, New Berlin), the Lincoln Land Cremation Society (lower-cost cremation), Roselawn Memorial Park (cemetery with green burial options), Boardman-Smith Funeral Home (historic acquired brand), and Butler Pet Services (companion animal cremation and burial). The company also offers prepaid funeral plans with relocation protection and lifetime flexibility, serving families from all walks of life and various faiths and cultures.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Funeral and Cremation Services Comprehensive funeral and cremation services for families and individuals across central Illinois, including traditional funerals, cremation, simple memorials, celebrations of life, cemetery burial, and columbarium niches. Delivered through three Butler funeral home locations and a state-of-the-art cremation facility.
• Butler Cremation Tribute Center State-of-the-art cremation facility offering cremation services with small committal service options and family participation in the cremation process. Located on South Seventh Street in Springfield.
• Lincoln Land Cremation Society Lower-cost cremation provider offering simple cremation services with dignity and respect to the Springfield community, positioned as an affordable alternative within the Butler Family of Organizations.
• Roselawn Memorial Park Historic cemetery and memorial park acquired in 2007, offering burial plots, cremation memorialization, green burial, and upright marker options for central Illinois families.
• Butler Pet Services Dedicated division offering pet cremation and burial services, plus pet caskets, urns, keepsakes, and grave memorials. Reachable at SpringfieldPetServices.com or 217-544-4646.
• Roselawn Pet Cemetery Dedicated section of Roselawn Memorial Park offering burial and memorial options for companion animals within the Butler Pet Services division.
• Prairie View Reception Center Reception center providing space for memorial services and celebrations of life for families served by Butler.
• Prepaid Funeral Plans Advance funeral and cremation planning contracts allowing customers to lock in today's prices with installment payment options. Includes Relocation Protection (transferable to qualifying Dignity Memorial providers within 75 miles), Lifetime Flexibility to modify plans, and Purchase Protection Plan covering up to $5,000 of remaining cemetery property balance.
• Memorial Products Sale of memorial merchandise including caskets, urns, keepsakes, grave memorials, and pet caskets and urns, offered alongside funeral and cremation services.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Dignity MemorialcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023In 2023, the Butler Family of Organizations joined the Dignity Memorial network, one of the largest funeral, cremation, and cemetery service networks in North America with over 1,900 locations serving 375,000+ families annually. As part of this network, Butler locations are branded under Dignity Memorial and gain access to network-wide transferability of prepaid plans, standardized service quality, and broader geographic coverage.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Foundation Partners Group: Private equity-backed funeral home and cemetery operator with over 100 locations across 20+ states. Directly comparable as a multi-location consolidator combining acquired regional brands under a centralized platform, similar to Butler's acquisition strategy since 2005.
• InvoCare: Leading funeral operator in Australia and New Zealand with hundreds of locations. Comparable as a multi-brand death care consolidator operating in markets with similar demographic aging trends and cremation rate growth.
• Everstory Partners: Private equity-backed funeral home, cemetery, and cremation operator with 200+ locations across the U.S. Directly comparable as a multi-brand consolidator in the death care space combining acquired regional operators into a unified platform.
• Carriage Services: Publicly traded death care services company operating funeral homes and cemeteries across the U.S. Comparable as a multi-location operator with a mix of acquired and organically grown brands serving similar customer demographics and service offerings.
• Park Lawn Corporation: Publicly traded funeral, cremation, and cemetery operator with locations primarily in Canada and select U.S. markets. Comparable as a regional consolidator acquiring independent funeral homes and cemeteries, similar to Butler's growth strategy in central Illinois.
• Service Corporation International: Largest funeral, cremation, and cemetery operator in North America with thousands of locations across the U.S. and Canada. Operates the Dignity Memorial network that Butler joined in 2023, making it both Butler's network parent and the dominant industry incumbent.
• StoneMor Partners: Publicly traded cemetery operator and funeral services provider with owned and managed properties across multiple states. Comparable cemetery-focused operations similar to Butler's Roselawn Memorial Park business.

Regional players

• Springfield Memorial Gardens: Cemetery and funeral services provider serving the Springfield, Illinois region. Directly comparable as a local competitor serving the same primary market for cemetery and funeral services as Butler Funeral Homes.
• Ellinger-Kunz & Park Funeral Home: Long-established family-owned funeral home serving the Springfield, Illinois area. Comparable as a competing independent, multi-generational family funeral operation in the same primary geographic market as Butler.

Emerging players

• Propel Funeral Partners: Australian-listed funeral operator focused on regional and rural funeral home acquisitions. Comparable as a multi-location consolidator targeting small-town markets similar to Butler's New Berlin and Chatham service areas.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Butler Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center