First Broiler House, Agricultural heritage site in Georgetown, Delaware
This broiler house is a small wood-frame building with a footprint of roughly 16 by 16 feet and a straightforward square design. Inside, a coal stove system maintained the temperature needed to raise 500 chickens for meat production, a method that proved highly practical.
In 1923, a shipping mistake brought 500 chicks instead of 50 to Cecile Steele, who decided to raise them all in this pioneering structure. This accidental beginning sparked a new farming method that spread rapidly across the region.
This structure marks the shift from small family farming to large-scale commercial poultry production in early 20th-century America. You can observe how a simple building sparked an industry that reshaped Delaware's rural economy and farming methods for generations.
The structure has been relocated to the University of Delaware Agricultural Experiment Station, where you can walk around it and study its design. The simple layout shows how early farmers controlled heat and space to raise large numbers of birds efficiently.
From this single small structure, Delaware became one of the top poultry-producing regions in the nation within a few decades. It is remarkable how such a simple building sparked an entire industry that transformed the state's economy.
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