Butler Funeral Homes and Cremation Tribute Center

Springfield’s leading provider of personalized funerals and cremation memorials

The Butler Funeral Homes and Cremation Tribute Center group team offers knowledge and compassion you can count on. Our experienced and caring staff blends traditional values with contemporary products and services to memorialize every life in a unique way. Whether funeral or cremation, simple memorial or upbeat celebration of life, cemetery burial or columbarium niche, there are choices that reflect your personal preferences, family traditions and cultural values.

We are experienced in meeting the needs and wishes of families from all walks of life and a variety of faiths and cultures. With patience and care, we listen to what is important to you before creating a beautiful remembrance that truly reflects the memory of your loved one.

See how we celebrate life.

Planning experts

Losing someone you love can be very painful. Planning a funeral or cremation in advance makes it easier on your family. In fact, planning and funding final arrangements ahead of time is among the greatest gifts you can give your loved ones.

When you plan ahead, you get to carefully consider your options and make choices that ensure your life is remembered and celebrated the way you want. You also help lock in today’s prices.

We are experts in pre-planning and offer in-person, phone and virtual consultations. We'll take the time to get to know you and carefully explain what's available, including paying in installments.

Learn how you can plan ahead.

The Butler Community Endowment Fund

Community involvement and benevolence is part of the mission of the Butler Funeral Homes and Cremation Tribute Center group. We have a long history of helping those in need. Established in 2005, the Butler Community Endowment Fund assists local charities working to improve the quality of life in our community. We make a contribution in memory of each loved one and each pet entrusted to our care on behalf of the family we are serving. 

Families know there are few things, if any, more difficult than saying goodbye to someone they have loved. The memory of a person or a pet is a precious gift that can and should be shared. Honoring them with donations is our way of contributing to that goal. Organizations assisted by the Butler Community Endowment Fund include: 

• American Business Club
• Animal Protective League
• Asbury Children’s Supper Hour
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Elizabeth Ann Seton Program
• Friends of Sangamon County Animal Control
• Girls on the Run
• Girls Scouts of Central Illinois
• Grace Lutheran Food Pantry
• Loami Area Food Pantry
• Mini O’Bierne Crisis Nursery
• New Berlin Community Health Center
• New Berlin High School Scholarship Fund
• Prairie Art Alliance
• Pregnancy Care Center
• Prevent Child Abuse
• St. John’s Children’s Hospital
• St. Joseph’s Home
• St. Martin DePorres
• St. Patrick Catholic School T
• The Helping Paw Project
• The Matthew Project
• The Parent Help Line
• The Salvation Army
• Wooden It Be Lovely

Butler history

The Butler Funeral Homes and Cremation Tribute Center group has a history dating back to 1893, when founders Ben Kirlin and Ed Egan merged their funeral home and livery services into a single business in the vicinity of Springfield's Fourth and Adams streets.

They later moved the funeral home to the west side of South Sixth Street. In 1927, Ben and Ed moved the funeral home again, to its present location, an historic mansion at 900 South Sixth St. After the two men died, Ben's daughter, Mary Kirlin, took over Kirlin & Egan, known today as Butler Funeral Home & Cremation Tribute Center - Springfield.

Harold Butler joined the firm of Kirlin & Egan in 1925. He was manager until he became owner in 1940, after Mary died. Harold’s brother Bernard—father of Jack Butler and grandfather of Chris Butler—worked at the funeral home as well. Harold made additions to the east and north sides of the mansion during the 1950s.

Harold died in 1963. Two years later, in 1965, the funeral home was purchased by Harold’s nephews, John B. “Jack” Butler and Jerome “Jerry” Butler, along with Leonard Berry and John J. McCarthy. John McCarthy died in 1966.

Jack and Jerry became sole owners of the firm in 1970, finally adding the Butler name to the funeral home in 1972, after 32 years of ownership. Leonard stayed on as a friend and employee until 1974.

Jack & Jerry's sister, Mary Kay, joined the business as an office manager and eventually became a planning specialist. Jack’s son, Chris, a third generation of the Butler family, joined the firm in 1990. Jerry retired in 1993. Chris purchased the business in 2002 and still leads our team today.

Growth and innovation in the 21st century

Under Chris’ direction, the firm has continually grown to expand its offerings. Many years saw the addition of new products and services for families under the umbrella of the Butler Family of Organizations.

2000: Butler Cremation Tribute Center

The state-of-the-art Butler Cremation Tribute Center on South Seventh Street is more than a crematory. It accommodates small committal services and gives families a chance to be involved in a loved one's cremation, if they so desire.

2000: Butler Pet Services

Wishing to give families with beloved companion animals an option for saying goodbye to their pets with the utmost dignity and respect, the Butler Family of Organizations opened a separate division dedicated exclusively to pets. It offers both burial and cremation services. as well as pet caskets, urns, keepsakes and grave memorials.

2005: Butler Funeral Home - New Berlin

The Butler Family of Organizations purchased McCullough-Delaney Funeral Home in New Berlin and renamed it Butler Funeral Home - New Berlin. It serves the communities to the west of Springfield, including New Berlin, Curran, Berlin, Loami and Pleasant Plains.

2006: Lincoln Land Cremation Society

With the goal of offering simple cremation services with dignity and respect, the Butler firm introduced its lower-cost cremation provider to the Springfield community.

2007: Roselawn Memorial Park

The Butler Family of Organizations acquired the historic Roselawn Memorial Park, established in 1927. In the years since the cemetery became part of the firm, offerings have been expanded to include memorialization for cremation, green burial and upright markers.

2015: Boardman-Smith Funeral Home

Founded in 1848 as part of the Hutchinson Undertaking Company, the oldest funeral home in Springfield is considered "the Lincoln family funeral home." It cared for President Abraham Lincoln and many other members of the family after their deaths. The Butler Family of Organizations bought Boardman-Smith Funeral Home but didn't change the name.

2015: Roselawn Pet Cemetery

As an extension of its pet services, the Butler Family of Organizations opened a section of Roselawn Memorial Park dedicated to companion animals.

2018: Butler Funeral Home & Cremation Tribute Center - Chatham

Paula J. Staab Polk worked in funeral service for 20 years before founding Staab Polk Memorial Home in Chatham in 1999, Cremation Services of Central Illinois in 2001 and Sangamon Prairie Reception Center in 2003. The funeral home name was changed to Butler Funeral Home & Cremation Tribute Center - Chatham after the Butler Family of Organizations purchased it.

2018: Prairie View Reception Center

Sangamon Prairie Reception Center also became part of the Butler Family of Organizations, and its name was changed.

2023: The Butler Family of Organizations joins the Dignity Memorial family

Family owned for five generations, the Butler Family of Organizations has always been a leader in innovation and service excellence. Now, as part of the Dignity Memorial network, Chris and his team continue to listen to the community's changing needs, providing the best options, facilities, hospitality and healing opportunities for families and their guests.