Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

Incorporation, was to buy and sell at wholesale and
retail all kinds of poultry, butter. eggs. fruit, dairy
products, and poultry suppllies and produce of all
kinds: to feed, dress, pack and store all kinds of poultry;
to grade. pack and store eggs, fruit and dairy products:
to manufacture artificial ice and to buy and sell the
same at wholesale and retail.
The directors were George W. Fagen, W.A. Horton
and W.C. Horton. This company, spending $100,000 in
operating expenses and realizing a phenomenal growth
during the first few years, needed the 28,000 square
feet of floor space. Under the brand of SPECIALLY
BRED AND ESPECIALLY FED, the company-dressed
poultry went to the highest markets in the east.
Poultry was a prized item during the lean depression
years of 1924, when tramps, hobos, and even the local
ne'er-do-well fowlophiles, made a quick and tasty meal
at the expense of the chicken owners. Then, having “an
enough is enough" attitude and perhaps remembering
the horse thief and vigilante days. the beleaguered
poultry raisers, formed the Jones County Poultry
Protective Association. The group offered, through
$2 annual membership dues, a bounty of $1,000 on
the head of any apprehended and convicted chicken
thief. It worked, albeit temporarily, for there was not a
single report of chicken thievery in 1925. Many times in
many years the chicken pirates struck the roosts of
honest poultry raisers.
I will relate the following, mainly that all my hours of
research will not be in vain. [You may draw your own
conclusions as to the degree of necessity. or wisdom. of
its inclusion.)
On a December evening in 1880, along about dusk, a
drove of 385 turkeys passed through Anamosa‘s Main
Street. They were in charge of a group of boys who
were assisting Miner Davis of Langworthy. The flock,
being gathered at Monticello and "other intermediate
points” belonged to D.L. Cushing, at the time a
resident of Boston, Mass. The final destination was
beneath a small brick building next door to J.G.
Parson's livery on Main Street, (about in the vicinity of
the ofilce of Dr. William Sunlin). At that place. Cushing
had ll pickers whose deft fingers stripped the
feathers from about 500 turkeys. chickens and ducks a
day. There were also a half-dozen other persons
scattered around town who were picking geese and
other fowl. For this work, they received three cents a
head for turkeys and two cents for chickens. A wideawake
picker would make a dollar-and-a-half a day.
Besides the Anamosa workers, Cushing had agents out
in every direction in a 15 to 20-mile radius in nine
other towns.
The dressed birds were packed into clean pine boxes
that were made especially for the purpose of shipping
them by rail to Boston. By January 20, the season
over, Cushing closed up his fowl business and returned
to Boston. He had expended between $4,000 to $5,000
on the affair in which 21 tons of dressed poultry was
shipped. It was reported that he was well pleased with
the whole venture.
Let us return to 1926 and the Anamosa Produce,
where we find that machines were installed that
enabled 52 workers to pick 500 birds an hour. Normal
daily production was between 3,800-4,000 chickens
killed, picked, and ready for market.
The following year, the company shipped, over the
Chicago and Northwestem railway, 1,326,590 pounds
of dressed poultry and 32,000 pounds of live poultry in
addition to many train carloads of eggs.
During the pre-WW II depression years, the produce
company failed and went into receivership. This was in
1932. The plant was purchased by Mark J . Goodrich.
Sr. in the spi1ng of that year and the name was
changed to The Anamosa Poultry and Egg Co.
The Produce, as it is commonly called, was a large
employer of local labor. The chief object of this concern
was handling poultry and eggs. George Fagen
continued as manager and Kenneth Humpal was the
assistant manager. Branch pick-up plants were
operated in numerous nearby cities and towns. A fleet
of trucks brought the produce items to the plant.
Operating their own refrigerated plants, poultry and
eggs could be handled on a large scale.
In addition to the produce business, in 1937, a
system of individual cold storage lockers, one of the
first in the state, was installed. Within two years, 400 of
the lockers were being rented annually by farmers and
local residents. The lockers enabled the users to keep
fresh frozen fruits and vegetables. as well as large
quantities of meat, available year-round. in
conjunction with the lockers, a meat market was on the
site. This was managed by Johnny Steenhoek for many
years.
During World War II, Goodrich obtained a
government contract to supply dried eggs. Two shifts of
workers were necessary and 150 persons were
employed.
Charles ‘Duck’ Thompson of Anamosa worked at the
produce prior to going into the army. While serving
overseas, he was taken prisoner. Upon his release, he
was taken to "Camp Lucky Strike", where liberated
prisoners were fed special foods. While looking around
the camp one day, he happened upon the scene of the
camp cook, who was breaking eggs. ‘Duck’ was curious
as to the source of the supply of fresh eggs and made an
inquiry. The cook obligingly pulled out a candling slip
which showed the source as GOODRICH OF IOWA.
Over 40 years later. ‘Duck’ chuckles over the incident.
and recalls the days when he worked amid 12,000
cases of stacked eggs.
Feathers from the fowl at the produce were dried and
shipped to Chicago to be used in mattresses and
pillows. The Poultry and Egg plant also sent egg whites
and yolks to the Pillsbury Company under the name
STANDARD BRANDS.
When Kenneth Humpal left the plant in I949. Eldo
Schirm of Cedar Rapids moved to Anamosa to take up
the position ofassistant manager.
The declining numbers of poultry raisers caused the
denouement of the Poultry and Egg Company and. in
1959, Goodrich sold out.
That same year Don Hayden, owner of Hayden's
Produce, used a portion of the building for his
headquarters and operated an egg business with an
extensive egg route. Hayden closed his business in
1972.
In 1926, a cement company, located south of the
building, called the Cement Products Company.
manufactured cement blocks that were used in many
Cement Products Co.
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Anamosa homes and buildings. A railway switching
track was conveniently located for unloading material
and loading finished products. This was part of the