Historical marker pays tribute to Sussex farming entrepreneur
In the 1930s and 1940s - depression and war years in the United States - a Sussex County man from Greenwood with a sixth-grade education showed the rest of Delaware what an agribusinessman with a fiery entrepreneurial spirit could accomplish. Before he died in 1950, John Sudler Isaacs had acquired more than 8,000 acres of Sussex farmland, built the world’s largest poultry processing operation and held the distinction of producing and packing more lima beans than any other farming operation in the world. “My father told me that when his father went to a farm sale, he didn’t like to lose,” said Hobby Isaacs, grandson of John Sudler Isaacs.
Isaacs headquartered his far-flung enterprises in the midst of the productive soil along Route 30 near Jefferson Crossroads, north of Milton. A tall brick chimney that served the steam engine-driven cannery on the site stands as a monument to Isaacs’ ingenuity. Concrete pads, their edges overgrown by grass, mark a farm scale that stood next to the Isaacs office and foundations for the cannery and packing houses. Across the road, a many-doored brick maintenance facility testifies to the equipment-intensive operation that once thrived across the northern half of Sussex.
On Wednesday, May 25, state officials and members of the Isaacs family gathered at the site to unveil the latest historical marker installed by the Delaware Public Archives. It pays tribute to the agribusiness pioneer.
Hobby Isaacs, along with his cousin Hilda Isaacs Lankford, spearheaded the effort to recognize their grandfather’s work. “This is the culmination of a meeting we had about a year ago at a restaurant in Ellendale,” said Rep. Harvey Kenton, R-Milford, who sponsored the marker.
Hobby said his grandfather grew and packed lima beans, peas, asparagus and corn. He also grew and processed chicken through his Eagle Poultry Company. Much of the food, through contracts with the federal government, went to feed troops fighting in World War II. He sold thousands of tons of frozen chicken processed in his plant and kept in cold storage at a large facility in Georgetown. Isaacs said his grandfather also had contracts with A&P food stores for the sale of vegetables and chicken throughout the East Coast. “He bought his first farm in 1929 and built his canning factory in 1935,” said Hobby. He built the Eagle Poultry Company in the early 1940s.
Rep. Steve Smyk, whose 20th district encompasses parts of the Isaacs realm, took advantage of the marker unveiling to make a political statement. “If this man was able to accomplish all of this starting back in the Depression, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get more operations like this going in Sussex now. But our problem is that Delaware is run from Wilmington and New Castle County. Things were different back in his day.”
Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee showed his respect and admiration for the Isaacs accomplishments when he wrote a book a few years ago titled: John Sudler Isaacs: Sussex County Visionary.
Sarah Denison, deputy director for Delaware Public Archives, noted that the Isaacs marker is the 245th to be placed in Sussex County. “Sussex, by far, has the largest number of historical markers in the state,” she said.
