History
John Stuart, in 1919, cast into burial vaults his design for sound concrete:
- Nine bag mix
- Steel reinforced
- Hand finished
- Coated and cured
- Incorporated a high base design
Hoover Dam was built between 1931 and 1936. 21,000 workers built the structure that included 4,360,000 cubic yards of concrete.
Harold McCandlish, in 1954, modernized (bag to bulk) and developed a protected seal for air seal vaults (inner seal vault). Both men provided the early leadership in burial vault design and good business standards for the industry. McCandlish was a well liked contractor and farmer.
We continue the principled building and service of these high quality vaults. We consider our business a noble pursuit.
Steven C. Burton,
Current President Stuart Burial Vaults
In November of 2021 Steve Burton purchased JML Vaults (Stuart Burial Vaults). He is a proud graduate of New Lexington High School class of 1989. A Veteran of the United States Air Force and after nearly 30 years in public safety, Burton retired at the rank of Lieutenant from the City of Lancaster Division of Fire. Knowing that he wanted to still work to help people, was the main reason he pursued this business opportunity. The strong tradition and high reputation of Stuart Burial Vaults just felt like the perfect fit to allow him to continue to serve people.
Burton currently serves on the New Lexington Board of Education. He says, “I truly believe in community service and enjoy the relationships we are building with our funeral partners. Since 1919 Stuart has been and continues to be a family owned and operated business. We look forward in growing the business and building relationships as we serve our funeral providers and communities.”
Burton feels that the Stuart employees are the reason for its success. They all understand that they are in a business that is there for the family and they take that to heart with every service Stuart provides. “I feel truly blessed to be able to continue to move Stuart Burial Vaults forward and to provide high quality air sealed, locally made vaults to our communities.”
This basic formula, with dependable service, has been our trademark for nearly a hundred years. Mr. Stuart was a founding member of the National Burial Vault Association serving as its first Secretary-Treasurer.
John Stuart's concrete reputation from vaults and bridges, prompted a request to help engineer the concrete mix design for the Hoover Dam. He sent his son to help on site.