McCall's Farm, raised chickens for the eggs. Spent many summers packing eggs. Us 7 kids grew up in the white 2 story house and Grandma Minnie Mae McCall lived in the house in front of the pond. Our aunts and uncles helped work the farm with our mother Ella Henry.

Wow....we packed a lot of eggs there!

The McCall Farms, Inc. was formed April 8, 1963 with William âœRoss❠McCall (president), Minnie âœMae❠(Craig) McCall (vice-president), Ella Henry, Carl McCall, Esther Myers, Donald McCall. Initial farming was of a meat packing facility, that engaged in the production of butchering, hides, fats, bones and meat scraps shipped in interstate commerce, but in 1963 branched into chicken/egg farming with Mae's desired to run the egg-farm.

McCall's Farms was widely known for the production, processing and marketing of eggs. The operation involved 48,000 laying hens housed in four laying houses with 12,000 hens/each, 13,000 baby chicks and produced approximately 7,300 eggs an hour (1970) 35,000 eggs a day (1966). The business, in 1968, employed 11 people involved in operating the plant. Eggs were gathered three times a day. Five girls were employed to do all phases of the washing, candling, grading and packing of eggs all completed in one process. And in 1970, had nine employees doing the job.

The laying houses were of the latest design, 23 feet wide by 180 feet long, equipped with running water and motor-driven feed cars, the temperature maintained by automatic fans. In 1970, it was using 95 electric motors to run the equipment, 12,000 pounds of feed per day for the chickens, and 3,000 gallons of water per day.

Store deliveries were made within a 50-mile radius and wholesale within a 250-mile radius.

In March 1955, a severe windstorm hit Clarion County. In Curllsville, roofs and windows were blown out and farm buildings in the area suffered considerable damage. Heaviest loss was to the farm buildings and slaughter house belonging to Ross McCall of Rimersburg RD 1. A number of buildings were wrecked in the Sligo area and nearby barns were damaged and de-roofed. The upstairs of Ross's home was destroyed. This same wind storm resulted in Clarion County farmer, Lee Beatty of Strattanville, having his frame barn blown down, killing 10 milk cows, a team of draft horses, a large hog, 200 of a flock of 300 chickens - some found completely featherless about a mile away. Destruction of a wealth of farming equipment. Four heifers were saved.

In July, 1966, the McCall farm was again struck with disaster of losing 22,859 chickens due to electrical failure from faulty wiring inspection. In June, 1972, McCall Farms, Inc., Rimersburg RD, was awarded a large settlement in Clarion County Civil Court against Keystone Electrical Inspection Service, Inc., of New Cumberland, allowing for a three percent interest charge from July 30, 1966 to June 20, 1972 (the date of the verdict) at 6% interest.

In 1974, Egg processors at the 58th Farm Show in Harrisburg included in the list for producer-quality award for one dozen eggs, the McCall Farms, Rimersburg.

-PJG

I miss THE FARM. Looking back it was a wonderful place to grow up, live, and work. Uncle Don (McCall) and I had a lot of fun working together down the hill in those coops, even though it was hard work at times. In the three story barn we raised peeps for a few days old and once grown, we moved them to the coops, at night. Part-time workers recruited from town came out to help with those epic moves using wooden cages and the old "Deuce" truck that only Don and my brother Doug knew how to start! My oh my the memories... I will never forget the day I accidentally knocked over a pallet of eggs in the plant cooler. Mom (Ella Henry) was not too happy with me... but I learned form it. If we were lucky, mom would give us a day off and we headed to Redbank to swim at the pool. Otherwise, it was working on the farm all summer as kids. My favorite thing was the old Coke machine in the office at the plant. Pop was cold as ice!! Although no longer in our family, this place has definitely changed but the memories live on as does "The Incredible Edible Egg"!