Nov 25, 2020
Yakima’s Famous Matter Broadway Turkey Farm
Jake Matter was born in June of 1897 in Colorado. When he was approximately thirteen he moved to Idaho, remaining there until he was an adult. In the 1920’s he was single and working as an Engineer in the Gas and Steam industry.
Laurel Athel (Hoback) Matter was born in Indiana in January of 1890. By 1920 Laurel she was living in Portland, Oregon and was working as a teacher.
At some point prior to 1930, Jake married Laurel and the two were residing within the Broadway district of Yakima, Washington. Once in Yakima, Jake was working in a Creamery and Laurel was working as a bookkeeper when the economic devastation of the Dust Bowl hit America.
Like so many in the 1930’s during the Dust Bowl, Jake and Laurel were also experiencing economic hardships. Deciding to take a gamble on farming they chose to raise turkeys for the meat market on a farm they named the Matter Broadway Turkey farm in Yakima.
Not long after they started raising turkeys, their gamble paid off.
They were successful enough to expanded their turkey farming operations to include the breading of turkeys in order to sell poults (baby turkeys). To breed and raise the babies, incubators and a brooding house were added to the farm. Not long afterwards their breeding operations soon became the larger portion of their turkey farming business.
By 1935 the Matter Broadway Turkey farm had become very successful. They were selling tons of turkey meat. Literally tons. Four hundred tons of turkey meat were sold that year just for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
The same year thousands of their baby turkeys were shipped out to customers living as far away as Montana and Southern California. A reported 6,500 to be exact. Their birds had become a western American favored turkey and soon they were advertised for sale in papers throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Jake and Laurel remained living in the Yakima area until their deaths. Jake passed away in April of 1978 and Laurel in November of 1987.
Photos are of Laurel Matter and the Matter Broadway Turkey Farm. Courtesy of the Yakima Valley Museum. Photographer George Martin, circa mid 1930’s.
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