Jesse Jewell 1902-1975
Jesse Dickson Jewell was born in Gainesville, attended the University of Alabama and Georgia Tech, then returned to his hometown in 1922 to work in the family´s feed, seed and fertilizer business.
Encouraging area farmers to raise chickens, he founded a small poultry dressing plant on nearby Maple Street in the basement of a feed warehouse. He pioneered creative techniques and unique machinery to process an increasing volume of poultry. The enterprise grew into the world-renowned J.D. Jewell Company featuring a contract grow-out program for farmers, hatchery, feed mill, high-volume processing plant, rendering plant and a bulk feed system. His work created a demand for specialists in nutrition, poultry science, poultry marketing and transportation.
The father of the ingenious ´vertical integration´ management program for chicken production, his feed conversion incentive plans benefitted farmers helping guide the area´s agriculture economy through and beyond the nation´s great depression. The program, from avian parent breeding to brand name marketing, is emulated worldwide today by all poultry producing firms.
A leader in civic and industry affairs, Jewell served as president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Elks Club and the Southeastern Poultry and Egg Association. He was a founder of the National Broiler Council and inducted in the U.S. Department of Agriculture´s Poultry Hall of Fame.
Believing that education is paramount to a strong family structure, his scholarship program sent many local women through Brenau College. Jewell´s work ethic and business acumen were highly acclaimed. His hometown became the ´Poultry Capital of the World,´ largely based upon Jesse Jewell´s vision, personal integrity and energetic leadership.
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.