H&N Nick Chicks

When the Lowry Roller Mills burned to the ground in 1938 and no phoenix from the ashes was forthcoming, the town famous for its "Lowry's Best Flour" lost its identity.  But post-WWII, Signer Rykhus' H&N Nick Chicks Hatchery became the new "coals from Newcastle", selling Lowry Leghorn chickens throughout Minnesota and the Dakotas. The Leghorn was a Nick Chick, "a highly productive and efficient white egg layer with superb egg shell quality and a docile demeanor". (I always thought H&N stood for Hoplin & Nelson, but I was disabused of that notion by my friend Pete, son of the hatchery man.)  The Leghorn was so closely associated with the town that the local town baseball team was known as the Lowry Leghorns. To have my beloved team named for a chicken was a bit hard to take.

Sig was the 'great persuader'. In the 40's, after several business plan revisions and several loan app rejections, he actually wrangled a loan for his hatchery business from the ever cautious Lowry State Bank President Iver Engebretson.  He persisted.  My father made the same attempt - for a home loan in 1952. And although Hoplin & Nelson had operated the hardware since 1916 and sent 4 sons to the Navy in WWII, he was deemed too great a risk. Loan application rejected.  Luckily for us the VA took the risk.

Sig was a shrewd businessman as this, possibly apocryphal, story demonstrates. The Rykhus' home was on the west side of town with enough acreage to have a horse barn and corral - and a strange exotic item, a sauna. At some point, Sig decided to sell a horse and placed an ad in the Pope County Tribune for a riding horse for sale, $100.  Not a single inquiry. The next week he placed an ad, riding horse $500.  Sold that very day.  Apparently people aren't interested in $100 nags. 

The hatchery, sandwiched between the telephone company and the barber shop, dominated the east side of main street and was filled with incubators to warm eggs into hatched chicks.  Of course, you wanted hens, not roosters, so regularly a team of Japanese "chicken sexers" came to town to differentiate the desirable gender from the undesirable. This is a rare skill. And although we had recently fought a war against the Japanese, Sig supported them over the anti-Japanese grumblings. They became fast friends over the years and they never forgot his kindness to them. (Sig also employed ex-cons.)  At one time, the hatchery employed 35 people. And, a little known fact, Sig also operated a "Good Will". People would come to get feed sacks to make into dresses, occasionally asking for an extra feed sack for their wife as she was pregnant.  A man well ahead of his time.

Sig was also somewhat of a TV celebrity, at least to certain kids.  KCMT in Alexandria was the only TV station that was in range of Lowry and they had a kids show - Funny Company or maybe Kiddie Korral. In any case, Sig made an appearance and handed out a baby chick to each kid in the audience, complete with feed, I'm sure to parents' delight.  What kid wouldn't be delighted to have a fluffy chick for a pet? At least for a day or two.

Sig eventually abandoned the main street buildings and constructed a new "Nick Chicks" hatchery west of Lowry. Worthless trivia - I worked with my father doing electrical work on that west pullet building. I was inept.

The "Hatchery" still lives on on Lowry's Main Street - except, it's now a bar & grill. "Best wings around".

In 2001, Sig was awarded the prestigious Lowry Citizen of the Year award

Photo credits: Mary Rykhus Smith

Copyright ©  2023  Dave Hoplin