Arthur Perdue

Arthur W. Perdue
Born(1885-08-08)August 8, 1885[1]
DiedJune 27, 1977(1977-06-27) (aged 91)[2]
Salisbury, Maryland[2]

Arthur W. Perdue (1885–1977) was an American businessman and the founder of Perdue Farms[3] along with his wife Pearl in 1920.[4] The business was started in his backyard, and at the time only produced table eggs from chickens,[4] but eventually grew into a $4.1 billion company.[5]

Family and background

In the 1600s, Henri Perdue, a Huguenot, left France for the Province of Maryland to escape religious persecution.[6] Perdue settled in what is now Wicomico and Worcester Counties and his descendants continue to live in the area.[6]

Perdue was born in 1885 as the second of three children to Levin and Martha Perdue in Worcester County.[1] His parents were devout and strict Methodists.[1]

He married Pearl Parsons in 1917 and had one child in 1920, Frank Perdue.[1]

Career

In 1915, Arthur Perdue worked as a Railway Express agent[7] in Salisbury, Maryland.[8] By 1920, Perdue noticed that the chicken farmers on the Delmarva peninsula that were making money had shifted from selling chickens to selling table eggs.[9] Perdue quit his job at the railroad and established his own commercial table-egg farm a few miles east of Salisbury, Maryland.[9]

Perdue began focusing on quality and brought in Leghorn breeding stock from Texas to improve the quality of his flock.[7] He then expanded his egg market, including to New York.[7]

Legacy

The Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Maryland, is home to the Delmarva Shorebirds baseball team, a class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles in the South Atlantic League.[10]

The Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation was established to support the communities where Perdue Farms has facilities.[11]

In 2017, the farmhouse Perdue built in 1917 and lived in was added to the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Biography, The Perdue Family. A&E Television Networks. 2005. pp. 5:10. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Arthur W. Perdue, Founder of Poultry Concern in Maryland". The New York Times. 28 June 1977. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  3. ^ Schmetterer, Bob (2003). Leap: A Revolution in Creative Business Strategy. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 72–76. ISBN 978-0-471-22917-9.
  4. ^ a b "Business Timeline: 1920s". Perdue Farms. 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  5. ^ "About Us". Perdue Farms. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  6. ^ a b Omo-Osagie, Solomon Iyobosa II (2012). Commercial Poultry Production on Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore: The Role of African Americans, 1930s to 1990s. University Press of America. pp. 7–8. ISBN 9780761858775. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Rubenson, George C.; Shipper, Frank M. (2001). Integrative Case 12.0: Perdue Farms. Salisbury University. ISBN 1285401565. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  8. ^ Sloan, Judy; Perdue, Frank (September 1, 2003). "Frank Perdue Perdue Farms: I Turned My Father's Tiny Egg Farm Into A Poultry Powerhouse And Became The Face Of An Industry". CNN Money. CNN. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  9. ^ a b Williams, Henry H (1998). Delmarva's Chicken Industry: 75 Years of Progress (PDF). Georgetown, Delaware: Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. pp. 9–10. ISBN 0966761804. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  10. ^ Tilghman, Mary K. (2004). Frommer's Maryland & Delaware, 6th Ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 282. ISBN 978-0-7645-7379-8.
  11. ^ Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation 2019 Annual Report (PDF). 2020. p. 3. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  12. ^ Dinsmore, Christopher. "Perdue farmhouse added to state historical registry". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 20 July 2020.

Further reading

  • Gordy, Frank (1976). A Solid Foundation: The Life & Times of Arthur W. Perdue.