A hearse drawn by four white horses was a hallmark of the Snowden Funeral Home, the first African-American owned funeral service in Montgomery County. George Russell Snowden started the family business in 1918 in Howard County. In 1926, he brought it to Rockville. His son Robert and wife Alma took over operations in 1936. The second generation of the family demolished the original frame structure and built the current brick building in 1947. Robert and Alma's children, Irene and George, took over the business from their parents in the 1970s. Today, the fourth generation of Snowdens operates the business. In 1985, the Snowden family received a NAACP award for "community awareness, citizenship and human kindness."
