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The Grant Miller Mortuary is a mortuary at 2850 Telegraph Avenue. The sign proclaims it is the successor to Chapel of the Oaks and the John Cox Mortuary; it is listed on Google maps and its website as John Cox-Grant Miller Mortuary. This location was built in 1896, but significantly redesigned in 1931 by architects Miller and Warnecke. 1
A 1909 ad lists an address of 1128 - 23rd Avenue, which had been previously been the site of Bessie J. Wood Funeral Directors, Miller's former employer, c.1902. The 1911 directory lists an address of 1184-1186 East 14th Street (now 2368-2372 International Blvd.), and also lists Miller's Oakland Ambulance Service at 1186 East 14th Street. 3 In 1911, a woman killed herself on the steps of the mortuary, despondent because her husband couldn't work. 2
By 1937, the business was known as Grant D. Miller Mortuaries, Inc., and current building at 2372 International Blvd. retains the distinctively-shaped sign (gothic church window + squished hexagon). According to Lives of the Dead, that was the original location until 1978.
As was common at the time, Grant D. Miller was also county coroner, from 1915–1938 (elected 1914).
Links and References
1911 directory 3
- Grant Miller - John Cox Mortuary website
- Grant D. Miller on Lives of the Dead
- Woman Ends Life on Steps of Mortuary San Francisco Call October 28, 1911
- Husted's 1911
- The Voice of the Politician Livermore Journal August 21, 1930
