Worcester’s Hatchery

Local businessman, Tom Worcester, has provided this fascinating look into the past for our readers.

The beginning of Worcester’s started with The Hatchery.

Our Grandfather, John A. Worcester, the youngest of 14 children, grew up working on his Dad’s (John F. Worcester) 125 acre turn of the century farm here on the northwest corner of Root Rd. and Chestnut Ridge with the railroad at the back of their property.  From all accounts it had cows and horses and acreage for vegetable gardening, hay and wheat straw production with sales to local farmers and stables and neighbors.  John’s 14 brothers and sisters, having spent their time on farm duties growing up, one by one each moved on to their own chosen way of life. (other than farming)  With WWI looming, at 17 John left the farm himself for the first time and joined the United States Signal Corps because he was already an accomplished mechanic but also interested in airplanes.  This was 1914 and they shipped him to Aviation Flight School in Redwood City, California.  After a year of flight training and aircraft service and mechanical repair training he was sent to San Leon, Texas to assist with building Ellington Field Aircraft Base.  He was honorably discharged at the end of WWI in 1919 and rode the train back home to North Ridgeville, Ohio.  He met and married his sweetheart Esther Dair in 1926 and one of their wedding presents was a dozen baby chicks.  Seeing how fast they multiplied and provided fresh eggs, they soon had to put a “Eggs for Sale” sign out in front of their home at RD#1 Elyria, Ohio- the site known today as 34814 Chestnut Ridge, North Ridgeville, Ohio.

This original location had a three story high addition to house the hatchery operation as well as temperature controlled brooder rooms needed to rear the baby poultry until they were old enough to be sold or shipped out of state to buyers.  The building was heated by a coal boiler plant to provide steam heat through pipes and radiators.  A full time man was hired to tend to the steam heat and coal fired boilers as a watchman and had an adjoining small apartment right there on the first floor.  The Hatchery Poultry and Feed Store provided this service on Chestnut Ridge for the next 17 years with the help of son, Delbert and 2 years later a daughter, Eleanor- both growing up with all the baby chicks, ducks, geese and turkeys on the large poultry farm.

Everything was going well until August 7, 1943 when a back draft mechanism malfunctioned and caused the coal boiler to overheat and a fire roared out of control just above the night watchman’s small apartment.  My Dad, Delbert, told me that the fire alarms wired into their home attached to the three story hatchery were all going off!  John, Esther and sister, Eleanor all were up and getting out of their home there.  Delbert went around back to see if Eugene the watchman got out, but had to pound on his door a while to awaken him – he’d have been a goner for sure!  By this time fire was involved to all 3 floors of the hatchery and all of their tractors used on the farm were in the garage under this inferno, he ran into the flaming garage against the screams of his mother and sister to retrieve his 1935 Harley-Davidson and push it as far back into the driveway to the rear to be safe from the fire.  By this time the Ridgeville Volunteer Fire Department had arrived and a pumper from Elyria as well, but it was so involved that all they could save was the attached home that John had built, and a front garage.  My Grandmother put a few pictures in a separate little photo book labeled Worcester Disaster of August 7, 1943. 

three story building- gone

 The building was a total loss.  As John and Delbert were cleaning up all the destruction and discussing what do we do next??? Grandma Esther had the great idea that if we have to rebuild our business, why don’t we move up to State Route #10 and Root Road?  There is a closed business that was a former tree nursery that is sitting empty currently.  Well, after looking over the building and property, John decided to just sell the farm and former site of the Hatchery and make the big move to the site of our  current business.

Adding on warehouse space several times the Worcester Hatchery was back in business by 1945, with son, Delbert branching off in 1951 –  taking over John’s Bolens Tractor dealership into his own small engine, chain saw, lawn mower repair with a short stint in television repair business at the new location.

We couldn’t possibly thank all of the friends, neighbors and relatives who’ve supported our business or worked with us over the years!  I’d also like to thank any of our past, present, or future customers for giving us the opportunity to be of service to you.

Watch for a future story on: Worcester’s Sales and Service, Inc. the next generation.

We thank Tom Worcester who submitted the above historical account of the history of his family business.  Tom is part of the fourth generation to work at the Worcester’s business, plus he is also a member of the North Ridgeville Historical Society.  With this article he has provided us not only a look into the history of  his family business but a look into life in the past here in North Ridgeville.