Riverside Memorial Chapel was founded as Meyers Livery Stable[2] in 1897 by Louis Meyers on Norfolk Street on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan. In 1905, the business was relocated to 54 East 109th Street and the name was changed to Meyers Undertakers. In 1916, the business was relocated to 228
Lenox Avenue (at 122nd Street) in
Harlem and the name changed to Meyers & Company. In 1926, they moved to 180 West 76th Street and
Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side and built a large four story chapel. In 1933, they divided into two separate companies, Riverside Memorial Chapel and Parkwest Chapels. The funeral company was headed by Charles Rosenthal.[3][4] They expanded thereafter to
Miami,
Florida (1935);
Brooklyn (1938); the
Bronx (1940); and
Westchester County, New York (1950).[1] The company, then owned by the founder's grandson,
Edward Rosenthal, expanded via acquisitions acquiring the
Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel (1948), the Universal Funeral Chapel (1955); and the Walter B. Cooke Chapel (1957) to become the largest funeral company in the United States.[5] In 1958, Rosenthal retired and ceded control to his son-in-law
Steve Ross.[6] In 1961, the company was merged with the
Kinney Parking Company (then, renamed as Kinney Service Corporation) and taken public. In June 1971, Riverside Memorial Chapel was purchased by
Service Corporation International.[1]