LESTER RAY BROWN

Lester Ray Brown was born in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, on January 21, 1908 to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel R. Brown.

Lester Brown graduated from Pilot Mountain High School in 1926. The following January, he attended a short poultry course at North Carolina State College in Raleigh and won a silver cup for being the best judge of poultry at the end of the course.

A few years after high school, Lester Brown bought a small farm on the outskirts of Pilot Mountain and built his first chicken house. He always desired quality egg production and never lost sight of this as a goal. He was one of the first hatcherymen in the state to begin a blood-testing program. Progress with quality was one of his goals. 

From a small beginning of 100 chicks from the valley of Virginia, his business grew so that at one time he was hatching approximately two and one-half million chicks per year. The motto of his hatchery was "Mountain Chicks are Huskier."

Truly, Lester Ray Brown was an innovator and pioneer in helping with the development of North Carolina’s poultry industry. The North Carolina Poultry Federation is pleased to honor him as a member of the North Carolina Poultry Hall of Fame.