Dr. Wright's Rapid Relief - Wright's Hatchery - Part 3

Changing a company that manufactures medicine into a company that manufactures baby chickens may not seem to be very logical. In Dr. Wright's situation, there were many circumstances that came into play, and his logic and his subsequent decisions made all the difference.

Mrs. Wright and both sons, Burr and Wylie, as they got old enough, took on various responsibilities in the operation of the doctor's office and in the Rapid Relief business. The boys would also have had their normal household chores and schoolwork with which to be concerned. With the family being self-sufficient like many others at the time, there probably was a garden or crops to oversee and some animals, which undoubtedly included horses and chickens.

Public information about Wylie Wright's life is rather limited. There are records that show he was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio in 1873. He had married Mary Hannah Peterson and the couple had a son born in 1897. The 1900 census listed his occupation as farmer. Wylie and Mary divorced in 1904. In 1910, he married Catherine E. Miller in St. Joseph, Indiana. His parents' obituaries listed his residence as St. Louis. His WWI registration card says he was employed by the Studebaker Company in South Bend, Indiana. Later sources record his occupation as a motorman who operated a trolley from South Bend to Mishawaka. His death certificate shows he was a machinist for the Birdsell Manufacturing Company in South Bend, Indiana, which was widely known for their farm wagons and clover hullers. He died in 1921, at Mishawaka, Indiana, at the age of 47 after a two month illness, the result of complications from a medical procedure.

Burr Wright completed his elementary education at Franklin Township and attended high school at Peebles. He then tested for, and was issued, a two-year teaching certificate in 1892, and was employed as a teacher at Haverhill School in Scioto County. At the end of the two years, he attended Ohio State University for four years and graduated with a B. Ph. degree in 1898.

The firm took over the manufacturing and marketing of the proprietary medicines which had become well known in at least twenty states and took over the development of new mixtures for the public's ailments. The group also agreed to increase the amount of newspaper advertising to encourage the sale of the products. However, in a short time, the use of patent medicines fell out of fashion. New government regulations further strained the industry. The local business was weakened by the death of Belle in 1912, an invalid for almost thirty years, and was further put at risk with the death of Dr. Wright in 1919.

Burr had to decide what to do. He considered the nation's economic, industrial and agricultural conditions. He received expert advice from the the Rapid Relief Board and other business connections including the local farming community. With the family's previous leisure activities that involved their chickens, Burr concluded the company could expand and begin the manufacturing and sale of products for a second industry, poultry, specifically newly born chicks. At that point in time, no other species of animal was returning as much money from an initial investment. Another reason for the company to make a change was to begin a focus on the development of new medical treatments to control or eliminate diseases that were responsible for the death of many chicks and sometimes the entire flocks.

The new location utilized members of the Oakes family for employees. Burr's sister-in-law, Ethel Oakes, former advertising manager of The Portsmouth Times, became business manager at the plant. Another sister-in-law, Florence, had married Daniel Walter Shoemaker, another well-known Peebles merchant. Their son was Maurice Oakes Shoemaker, better known as M.O. or Mose. He began working at the Portsmouth store and eventually took over the operation of the Wright's businesses.

Near the beginning of 1933, The Wright's Portsmouth location was moved to a building on Second Street, a few buildings west of the U.S. Grant Bridge which had been built in 1927. In the early 1940's the business was relocated a little more to the west to 430 Second Street. This area is now considered part of the Boneyfiddle Historic District in the city. While Mr. and Mrs. Wright devoted most of their time to the new location, the Peebles store, for the most part, was placed under Mose's control. Both businesses continued to keep their focus on the chick industry which hit a peak in the mid-forties. World War II had brought about shortages of everything, including meat. Poultry was a relatively inexpensive product at the time.

As both locations continued to grow, a wider range of equipment and new lines of chicken feed and supplements from Wayne Feeds were being offered. More breeds of chicks were being hatched. At four cents each, you could also bring in your own chickens' eggs to be hatched. That price included insurance coverage for each batch. It guaranteed careful treatment to increase the percent of hatched eggs. Many so-called all-day poultry meetings were held to discuss general trends in the industry and specific ways to increase profits. One of the meetings featured G.S. Vickers, former poultry specialist from Ohio State University and Field Manager of the Ohio Improvement Association. The Peebles Evening Poultry School always covered a variety of topics. One particular meeting featured live specimens of grown chickens to demonstrate both good and bad characteristics. An employee demonstrated the process of taking blood samples to test for diseases. At the end of the gathering everyone would agree that “strong, vigorous birds with lots of capacity and plenty to eat are the ones which lay and pay.”

A change in ownership of the businesses was set in motion in 1946 with the death of Burr Roscoe Wright. His obituary indicated he had been ill for about a year and passed away as the result of a heart condition. He had been in the poultry business for over thirty years. His wife, Mayme took over the ownership duties. It was around a year later that she died.

All along, Burr Wright had been very involved in his community, no matter where he was. He was vice president and a candidate for steward of The Dorm housing facility, a member of the Horton Society, President and a delegate for the McKinley Club and a member of the Hunter Law Society, all while a student at Ohio State University. He also served on several boards and several organizations: president of the Peebles Library Board, a charter member and later president of the Peebles Lions Club, a member of the Masonic order, a member of the Peebles Village Council that provided an electric power plant and a new office building for the village in 1915, and was an active member of the Peebles Methodist Church. Burr was a capable and willing judge of poultry, often called upon to adjudicate at the Adams County Fair. He was also active in local and statewide political circles.

Professionally, he was a charter member of the Ohio Accredited Hatchery Association, a member of the International Baby Chick Association and director of the Ohio Poultry Improvement Association. He promoted and developed a number of local chicken businesses by conducting all day poultry meetings and evening poultry schools at the hatcheries explaining techniques to improve the flocks and increase the profits.

Wright's Hatchery participated in the Michigan Baby Chick Show at Lansing, Michigan, sponsored by the Michigan State College. It was considered the world's largest baby chick show. One year the hatchery entered six breeds of chickens and won five ribbons and other prizes.

After Mayme and Burr's deaths, both stores took to adapting to the changing market and started selling a variety of farm related products. The Ralston Purina Company became a major supplier of many different kinds of animal feeds and supplements. In 1950, Mose and his wife, Mildred, joined other winners of a Purina Company sales promotion for a six day, all expenses paid trip on a Caribbean cruise. It included stops in Havana, Cuba and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A newspaper ad from 1952 provided an idea of the products available.

The Portsmouth store was sold to Charlie and Rose Montavon of West Portsmouth in 1966. It is still being successfully operated by members of the Montavon Family as Wright's Farm Center. Information about the business, items for sale and photos can presently be found on Facebook.

2014 Terry Stevenson II, photographer, “430 2nd (Second) Street,” Local History Digital Collection

As for the Peebles store, the hatchery business by itself, had become outmoded and was discontinued around 1956, but one could still order chicks and related supplies into the early 70's. The feed and farm supply part of the store remained profitable and as a side effect became a very popular meeting place. Many people would come in just to visit, to warm up by the stove, or to enjoy a beverage or a sweet treat and of course, to catch up on the latest neighborhood news.

As time passed, local farming practices changed and plans were made to eventually close the Peebles facility. Business for Wright's Hatchery came to an end with the death of M. O. Shoemaker in August 1980. He had been with the company over fifty years. Mrs. Shoemaker's death occurred in 1989. Their son, Danny, had died in 1960, as a twenty-year old.

Mose with a small part of his Wright's Rapid Relief bottle collection.