When Louis Beinhauer opened his first mortuary downtown on Third Avenue, the year was 1860 and Pittsburgh was an active city. Industrial advancements resulted in city growth and Louis, along with his son, Ferd C., anticipated the flourishing city’s needs. They opened two branches of the original location on the South Side; one on Sixth Street and the other at the base of the old incline on Twelfth Street.Before long, Louis and Ferd C. were joined by the third generation of Beinhauers, Ferd C. Jr. and Louis Jr. In 1910 the family moved their business to West Liberty Avenue in Dormont, a community in the South Hills. They eventually incorporated all of their facilities at this location in 1921. A Pittsburgh development that facilitated the move was the construction of the Liberty Tunnels. The tunnels through Mount Washington made access to the South Hills easy, and opened this area up to development. No strangers to innovation, the Beinhauers built Pittsburgh’s first crematory in 1921. The crematory facility is the second oldest continuously operating crematory provider in the United States.