As cremation gained acceptance in the early eighties, Jack Eickhof felt something very important was missing. He believed a cremation urn should be protected and stored in a safe, dignified memorial. At the time, there were few columbaria – and none in his hometown of Crookston, Minnesota. During the design of his church’s columbarium, Jack came to realize the shortcomings of existing exposed fast
eners for marble niche fronts. He had a better idea – a unique, concealed hardware system. Jack’s nephew, Paul Eickhof, suggested marketing the hardware system to the interment industry. For the next seven years, Jack and Paul worked closely with cemetery customers to refine the hardware. While marketing this unique concealed system to the industry, Paul discovered that customers were also looking for a better way to build columbarium niches. Instead of costly, labor-intensive, poured concrete construction techniques, Jack developed a simple, modular columbarium niche system using light-weight, 3/8” thick cement fiber building board. After years of improvement, the result is a complete system that is structurally sound and secure with virtually limitless design potential. Today, the Eickhof Columbarium Niche System is at the heart of beautiful, custom-designed memorials throughout cemeteries and churches in North America.
