GREENWICH, N.Y. — “What’s for dinner?” For a large number of Americans, the answer to that question will involve chicken. Chicken has become the number one protein source in the world. While it is a major part of the American diet today, raising chickens for meat is a fairly recent development in American agriculture occurring within the past 100 years. The beginnings of the broiler industry are attributed to a woman named Cecile Steele who turned a mistake into a thriving industry.
Cecile Steele lived in Ocean View, Delaware and was often described as short, stout, and red-headed with an accompanying “fiery temper.” Yet she was also known as hardworking and pious.1 She was married to her husband, Wilmer, who worked for the U.S. Coast Guard in nearby Bethany Beach. Like many families in the area, Cecile kept a small flock of laying chickens. This was a common task that housewives undertook as another means of income for families. Eggs could also be used to barter with local shop keepers.2
Each year Cecile ordered 50 chicks to replace the hens that she lost in her flock throughout the year. In 1923 Steele ordered the same number of replacements as usual from a local hatchery. However, somewhere in the process a clerical mistake occurred and instead of receiving the usual 50, Cecile received a delivery of 500 chicks! Unable to return the extras she had to figure out what to do with all the extra chickens.3
Cecile decided to raise the extra birds for meat. At that time chicken meat was viewed as a by-product of the egg laying enterprise. Birds were typically only eaten when a chicken stopped laying. The meat from these birds was often tough and undesirable. Chicken meat was more readily available during the late spring when excess cockerels were culled. While their meat was better for eating it was only available at that specific time of the year. Generally speaking, good chicken meat was reserved for special occasions.4
Family legend has it that Cecile housed the chickens in an old piano box, while she hired a local lumberman named Roland Beauchamp to build a shed to house the birds. For the next eighteen weeks Cecile raised the chickens and 387 of the 500 survived. The finished birds weighed around 2 ½ pounds and she sold them to local hotels, restaurants, and other businesses for 67 cents per pound.5 The experiment proved to be quite profitable for the Steeles.
After her initial success Cecile expanded the operation ordering 1,000 chickens the next year. Wilmer saw that raising meat chickens could be a dependable and lucrative business and left his job at the Coast Guard to help Cecile raise the chickens full-time. The couple built more chicken houses and steadily grew their farm. By 1926 they raised 10,000 birds each year and just two years after that they had 26,000 chickens on their farm.6
The Steeles were not the first to attempt commercial broiler chickens. In 1880 a broiler operation was established in New Jersey and others were attempted in parts of Georgia, Arkansas, New Hampshire, and other sites. However, each of these operations were short-lived failing to make a profit.7
After the Steeles’ success many farmers entered in the broiler market too. Delaware’s flat terrain and mild climate made for a good place to raise chickens. By 1928 there were 500 chicken farms in the Delmarva region. One of these was the recognizable Perdue Foods chicken company which converted from egg production to meat production.8
The establishment of the broiler chicken industry in the Delmarva region proved to be very beneficial to the region. In the 1920s the area’s farmers were struggling for a number of reasons. Delaware was known for its peaches, but a blight called the “yellows” was destroying peach trees throughout the state. Strawberries were another commonly grown crop, however a fungus was harming strawberry fields as well. 9 Situated on the Atlantic coast the region was also known for fishing and seafood. At that time abnormally high salinity levels were harming sea life and diminishing catches for fisherman.10 The establishment of the new broiler chicken market gave the region’s farmers a new and dependable product.
Other reasons for the Steeles’ and Delmarva’s success in the chicken industry were location and timing. The 1920s, often referred to as the “Roaring 20s,” were a time of economic prosperity and wealthier Americans could afford chicken meat more frequently. Transportation and refrigeration improvements made shipping perishable items easier. In this environment Delmarva’s chickens supplied profitable big city markets like Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.11
Wilmer and Cecile’s success soon catapulted them to a place of prominence in Delaware. They later expanded in the chicken industry starting a business that offered chicken vaccines. The Steeles built a new house on the main strip in Ocean View which still stands today, and were able to purchase a $10,000 yacht named The Lure. In 1937 Wilmer was even elected to the Delaware state senate.
The Steeles did not get to enjoy their newfound luxurious lifestyle for long, however. On October 7, 1940, Wilmer and Cecile and three guests went out on a fishing trip on The Lure. While on the water the boat’s carburetor backfired which ignited gas fumes and caused the boat to explode! The guests were able to escape the wreckage, but the Steeles sadly died in the accident. Cecile was only 40 years old.12
The chicken industry looks different today than in did when Cecile Steele received her incorrect order. Yet the effects of her resourcefulness and determination are still felt today in the Delmarva region and beyond. In addition to raising chickens for meat becoming mainstream, in the decades after the starting of the broiler industry chicken litter began being used as fertilizer increasing yields of other crops. Corn and soybean acreage increased in the Delmarva area to feed the broiler farms too.13
According to the National Chicken Council, the United States has the largest broiler chicken industry in the world. In 2021 the U.S. produced over 9.2 billion birds. Chicken is the top protein consumed in the U.S., and Americans consume more chicken than any other country in the world.14
Today, Sussex County, Delaware, where the Steele’s operation started, is the top producing broiler county in the U.S. and the chicken industry contributes $4.8 billion dollars to the state of Delaware. The original chicken coop built for Cecile Steele’s 500 birds was placed on the National Historic Register in 1974 and is on display at the Delaware Agricultural Museum.15
1 William H. Williams, Delmarva’s Chicken Industry: 75 Years of Progress (Georgetown: Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., 1998), https://www.dcachicken.com/about/docs/Chapter%201%20The%20Birth%20of%20an%20Industry.pdf, 11.
2 Ibid, 7.
3 Jim Duffy, “Character of the Day: The Delaware Housewife Who Invented the Modern Chicken Industry,” last modified May 28, 2020, https://www.secretsoftheeasternshore.com/character-cecile-steele/.
4 Williams, 7, 9.
5 Ibid, 13.
6 Jim Duffy, “Character of the Day: The Delaware Housewife Who Invented the Modern Chicken Industry,” last modified May 28, 2020, https://www.secretsoftheeasternshore.com/character-cecile-steele/.
7 Williams, 14.
8 Jim Duffy, “Character of the Day: The Delaware Housewife Who Invented the Modern Chicken Industry,” last modified May 28, 2020, https://www.secretsoftheeasternshore.com/character-cecile-steele/.
9 Ibid.
10 Williams, 10.
11 Jim Duffy, “Character of the Day: The Delaware Housewife Who Invented the Modern Chicken Industry,” last modified May 28, 2020, https://www.secretsoftheeasternshore.com/character-cecile-steele/.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 National Chicken Council, “Broiler Chicken Industry Key Facts 2021,” accessed March 9, 2023, https://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/statistic/broiler-industry-key-facts/.
15 Michael Short, “Delmarva’s $4.8 Billion Chicken Industry Was Accidentally Hatched 100 Years Ago,” Lancaster Farming, February 19, 2023, https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/poultry/delmarva-s-4-8-billion-chicken-industry-was-accidentally-hatched-100-years-ago/article_36af9702-f119-51d1-a122-aee4b78955ce.html,
Chandler Hansen grew up and lives in Easton, NY. He is a graduate of Gordon College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in History. He serves as a writer and editor for Morning Ag Clips.