Eastern Connecticut Poultry Producers

About this Property

#Last Tenant

We are unsure what the last tenant might have been. A contributor on Reddit said that there was a bakery in one of the spaces, likely the Orms Street side, in the 80s and 90s. The name was likely “Colarusso Pastry” which was a comment on a photo of this building from Flickr.¹ We can’t remember ever seeing any activity in this here.

Providence property tax records list Horizon LLC as the owner with a Boston address. The building last sold/changed owners in 2021 for $350,000.² The “Interested?” sign has a 617 phone number, so that seems to be accurate (based on very little information).

Architecture

The building is set into a hill, moving south from Orms Street towards Jewett. The southern portion, which seems to be the oldest, is one story and moves from Jewett towards Orms. The rear-most portion of the building is set into the hill until it is completely below ground level. It has three garage doors and a loading dock on its street-facing façade. Window openings are small and rectangular and set on the eastern face. A hand-painted transom sign goes across all three doors and reads “Horizon Foods Inc.” in elongated Cooper Black-style lettering.

The northern portion is the Eastern Poultry Producers building, which is set one level above the southern portion and goes over about half of the southern building, creating a second story where they overlap. The Orms Street façade consists of two garage doors and a flat portion on the east with a pedestrian entrance off the street and on the eastern face. There is no commercial signage but there is an inset concrete “plaque” with the company name and a list of founding Officers.

The entire building is red brick with a flat roof. Window fenestration is rectangular. Aside from the graffiti covering much of the surfaces, the simple roof cornice and window openings appear to be in good shape and watertight.

#Current Events

The building sits empty, we believe, and gets a new mural on it ever few years. In our 2023 photos, the Simpsons were the main characters with some from Popeye on the Orms street façade. In 2025 or so, they were painted over by a large genie from Aladdin character and a Super Mario theme has taken over other walls.

#History

A cement entablature lists some history of the organization who occupied the northern half of the building:

“Eastern Connecticut Poultry Producers, Inc. ¶ Established 1923 ¶ Officers ¶ Kingslet L. Brown, President; Edward H. Ross, Vice President; William F. Spokesfield, Secretary; Arthur H. Benton; Treasurer”

It then lists the names of the Directors and one Manager, “James P. Farrelly.” It should be noted that the company may have been founded in 1923, but the building was not built at this location until after 1939 and before 1951.

The first location of the company was not far away from this location on Felix Street. A new article from 1928 mentions this location: “Yesterday afternoon, the members went to the Eastern Connecticut Poultry Producer’s Association headquarters on Felix Street to observe egg testing methods.”

Eastern Connecticut Poultry Producers merged with Eastern States Farmers’ Exchange in 1959. Eastern States Farmers Exchange was founded in 1920 and headquartered in West Springfield, Massachusetts. in 1964, the Farmers’ Exchange merged with the Grange League Federation of Ithaca to form Agway, Inc. Agway was one of the largest agricultural cooperatives in the United States with 85,000 members in 12 northeastern states.

Maps

• 1920-1921 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 3, Plate 43 (page 46) — At the corner where Orms turns into Valley Street there is not a building yet.
• 1926 G.M. Hopkins Insurance Map, Plate 5 — The building still does not seem to appear — though the location is on the edge of this map, it is also not present on the adjoining map. The plat is labeled “Southern New England Railway Company.”
• 1939 Aerial Photograph, Providence Aerial Viewer — It looks as though the Jewett side of the building was constructed first, as half of the building is visible in this photo.
• 1921-1951 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 3, Plate 43 (page 48) — The full building is present and generically labeled “Whol. Egg W. Ho.” for Wholesale Egg Warehouse.

#In the News

Pieces found in the Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Archives:

October 24, 1961

Joseph P. Farrelly, manager of the Providence egg marketing branch of the Eastern States Farmers’ Exchange, has been appointed manager of egg sales in eastern New England for the cooperative. He was manager of the Eastern Connecticut Poultry Producers for 14 years before it merged with Eastern States in 1959.

April 13, 1959

R.I. Farm News — The extension poultry meeting tonight in Richmond School on Route 138 has developed into one of statewide interest.

The main attraction will be William Prigmore, assistant manager of the Eastern States Farmers’ Exchange and one of the key figures in the merger of the eight egg marketing cooperatives in New England. […]

August 7, 1951

Unidentified Hen’s Heroic Effort Produces 5-yolk Egg

[…] Some unidentified hen in Connecticut has attempted to underline the going price of eggs per dozen in Providence by shipping o this city the new model, five-in-one egg.

Five yolks in one, that is.

Such an egg was found in a shipment at the Eastern Connecticut Poultry Producers, Inc, of 257 Jewett Street.

It was s jumbo egg, only slightly larger than the average of this type, now selling at that market for 91 cents per dozen.

Consider that the addition of four extra yolks would mean to the consumer for whom the yolk is the most important part of the egg.