Premium poultry brand Bell & Evans has withstood the test of time. Current owner Scott Sechler has spent the last 35 years transforming the way poultry is produced in America and escalating Bell & Evans to new heights, but there’s a rich history behind the brand that spans 125 years and several generations of poultrymen. Read how humble beginnings in poultry dealing and a passion for selling only premium birds led two men from New Jersey to establish the renowned Bell & Evans, and learn how Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania became home to the beloved brand.
Bell & Evans was named after founding partners Howard Hughes Bell of Bellmawr, New Jersey, and Carlton Sharp Evans of Moorestown, New Jersey. Bell was born in 1861 on his family’s 225-acre farm on Browning Road where his father, James, was raised and where his grandfather, Hughes, had settled in 1826. The Bells were a well-respected fruit producer, especially known for shipping premium quality peaches all over the country. They were also inventors, creating and improving farm machinery to reduce labor and horses in the fields. One of Howard’s sons, Ernest C. Bell, went on to become a well-known horse breeder, the town of Bellmawr named after him. His other son, Arthur, followed in Howard’s footsteps as a poultryman.