Cecile Long Steele
American broiler chicken industry pioneer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cecile Long Steele (1900–1940) was an American chicken farmer from Ocean View, Delaware considered to be the pioneer of the broiler chicken industry in the United States.[1][2] She was the first person in Delaware to raise chickens specifically for meat production, separately from her laying flock that was primarily meant to produce eggs.[1] For her role in pioneering the industry, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Delaware Women in 1983.[3]
Cecile Long Steele | |
|---|---|
| Born | Cecile Ann Long |
| Known for | Pioneering the broiler industry in the United States. |
| Spouse | David Wilmer Steele (m. 1918) |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards | Hall of Fame of Delaware Women (inducted 1983) |
Career
Cecile Steele of Ocean View, Delaware was the first person in Delaware to raise chickens specifically for meat production, known as broilers.[4] Before the 1920s, chickens were generally raised for egg production on small family farms to be consumed by the family or for sale to bring in additional income; meat was only a by-product of this industry when hens became non-productive or cockerels were slaughtered during the spring.[5][6]
Steele's role as a pioneer is thought to have arisen because of a shipping error by a Dagsboro hatchery in 1923, which meant that 500 chickens were delivered to her after she had ordered just 50 to replenish her flock.[1][7][8] Steele kept and raised the 450 additional chickens, housing them in a small barn heated by a coal oven.[9][10] Her husband, David Wilmer Steele, reportedly drove upstate via the newly built DuPont Highway to sell the 387 surviving birds (each of which weighing around two pounds) in a city market, getting 62 cents a pound.[5] Benjamin Cuker has also proposed that many of the birds were sold in New York City markets where they were slaughtered using Kosher techniques for the city's Jewish population.[11]
Using the profits from the initial experiment, Cecile Steele doubled her production to 1000 chickens in 1924. Because of the success of the business, her husband David Wilmer Steele even quit his job at the US Coast Guard.[12] It is also said that others in Sussex County began to convert their laying houses to broiler houses after seeing the success enjoyed by the Steeles.[13] By 1935, the Steeles owned 7 farms and could raise 35,000 broiler chickens.[5]
One of the Broiler Houses from the Steeles' farm, known as the First Broiler House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Having been relocated to Georgetown and restored, it is now owned by the University of Delaware and is preserved at the Delaware Agricultural Museum.[11]
Personal life
Born Cecile Ann Long to Edward and Manie Long in 1900, she married David Wilmer Steele on Christmas Eve, 1918. Initially working for the United States Coast Guard stationed at Bethany Beach, her husband David Wilmer Steele quit his job after the farm's commercial success in the 1920s and later went on to become a Republican Delaware State Senator, serving from 1937 until his death in office.[3][5]
On October 7, 1940, Steele and her husband died at sea in an accident.[14] The couple were entertaining guests on their cruiser, The Lure, when its motor exploded.[12][14] Cecile after jumping into the water in an attempt to save her husband, who had been propelled into the water by the explosion. Their death was reported on the front page of the Wilmington Morning News on October 8, 1940, and their funeral service is said to have been attended by "several hundred persons".[14][15]