FAMILY TRADITIONS Creating Legacies
in BUSINESS Photos by Terry Gleason, S&T Photography
We spoke with six Chamber member businesses with deep roots in our community about the past, present & future. Jenks Hatchery
has a rich history that began when James and Mary Jenks travelled west along the Oregon Trail in 1866, with the first four of their ten children. The couple purchased land upon their arrival, and in 1910, their youngest, Enoch, took over the farm. “Enoch began buying incubating equipment in 1910 and sold day-old poultry to friends and neighbors,” said John Jenks, one of the current owners of the hatchery, still on the original homestead. “We believe we are the oldest continuously operated hatchery in the United States.” The business grew quickly and by the 1920s was selling poultry throughout the Northwest, Jenks said. “After his service during World War II, my father, Melvin, joined his brother in operating the business,” he said. “By the 1960s, the poultry industry was changing. People moved to towns and cities and became less interested in producing their own eggs and poultry meat.” After decades of mailing out up to 20,000 catalogs per year, Jenks Hatchery eventually consolidated to
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essentially one customer hatching 20 million chicks annually.
have volunteered countless hours in the community.”
Changes in the industry continued, and by 2008, the Northwest had only two major poultry meat processors left, and both were owned by major U.S. poultry processing companies. Jenks Hatchery started hatching for an Oregon company that needed local, organically produced poultry to be used in their specialty soups and broths.
Jenks personally serves on the boards of the Samaritan Albany General Hospital Foundation, the Albany Boys and Girls Club Foundation, the Willamette Community Bank Board of Directors, and his church foundation. He also belongs to the local Rotary chapter.
“At the same time, there has been a strong resurgence in the production of local poultry products to be sold in restaurants, fresh food markets and organic grocery outlets,” Jenks said. “This has developed to the point where we now have several thousand customers across the United States. We currently help supply a national home-and-garden chain of stores, many Northwest feed stores, and many individual customers. We have shipped chicks, poults and ducklings to almost every state.” Sales in the immediate Albany area are limited, but Jenks said the hatchery buys supplies and uses services locally. “Of course, our employees live here and use local services,” he said. “And we
“The Albany Area Chamber has always been very supportive to the local agricultural community,” he said, “and in helping to ensure agriculture can effectively continue to supply the needs and demands of a growing world.” Jenks added, “My cousin and business partner, Larry Jenks, has a son [Aaron] demonstrating great interest and passion for the poultry business. Hopefully, he can become the fourth generation Jenks to operate this family-owned business. “We operate a rare and unique business,” he continued. “Through 108 years of operation we have faced many challenges and opportunities. We have survived because we strive to treat every customer and employee with honesty and respect.”
Albany Area Chamber of Commerce Powerbook | 2018-201 9