The First Broiler House, also known as Mrs. Wilmer Steele's Broiler House, is preserved at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

Agricultural Experiment Station near

Georgetown, Delaware Georgetown is a town in and the county seat of Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population of the town is 6,422, an increase of 38.3% over the previous decade. Georgetown is pa ...

as an example of a

chicken house Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chic ...

that was widely used to raise

broiler Breed broiler is any chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaug ...

chickens in Delaware during the 1920s. An example of an individual-colony house, the square wood-frame building housed 500 chickens. It was provided with a coal stove. and ' Cecile Steele of

Ocean View, Delaware Ocean View is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. The population was 1,882 at the 2010 census, an increase of 87.1% over the previous decade. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area and lies i ...

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. The wife of a Coast Guardsman stationed at the Bethany Beach Lifesaving Station, she raised her first flock of 500 in 1923, selling 387 two-pound chickens for 67 cents per pound. She ordered 50, but was accidentally shipped 500 which she decided to keep and sell at a discount. Her business model was profitable. In 1924 she doubled to 1,000 chickens, and in 1925 leaped to 10,000. By 1973, 50 years later, the industry processed 3 billion chickens per year. The broiler house has been moved from its original site at the Steele farm and has been repaired. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on July 3, 1974.

References

Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Buildings and structures in Georgetown, Delaware Poultry farming in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Sussex County, Delaware University of Delaware 1923 establishments in Delaware Relocated buildings and structures in Delaware {{Delaware-NRHP-stub