Being in business for 100 years is worthy of celebration—especially if your business has been in the same family the entire time! That’s why Creighton Brothers, an egg-production company based near the small town of Atwood in Kosciusko County, Indiana, is having a year-long celebration of their founding back in 1925.
Mindy Truex is President of Creighton Brothers, which was founded by her grandfather Hobart Creighton and her great-uncle Russell Creighton. She says the two brothers had very different personalities.
“That’s what made for a great partnership. Russell was very good at staying around on the farm and taking care of things, and my grandpa was very much a visionary and someone who back in the day they would’ve called him a natural-born salesman,” she says. “[My grandfather] was more the ‘face’ and the person who went out and helped find new markets and met with people.”
Mindy says that her grandfather and great uncle had originally raised hogs in the 1920’s, but the hog market had collapsed during that time. That led both Hobart and Russell Creighton to the poultry industry with the help from a gentleman named Chet Manwaring from Mentone who suggested they start raising pullets—or small female chickens. Mindy says there was a much larger market early on for selling mail-order pullets for families to raise to produce their own chickens and eggs in their backyards. As technology and transportation improved, the company began mass-producing and transporting eggs to clients across the U.S. via the rail system.
Mindy says the company today is still very much a family-owned business in the truest sense of the term.
“It’s kind of a crazy part to have to manage on the side,” she says. “We have about 180 owners—almost all of those are family members and even wives and husbands of family members. So, managing the family and all the activity for them is a full-time job in its own. I think our family ownership is fairly unique, to say the least, from that standpoint.
Mindy adds that she’s proud to lead Creighton Brothers and continue her grandfather’s legacy.
“I always kind of wonder sometimes what my grandpa would think of our company today. He died in 1976, so I didn’t get to know him in his more active time. I was still fairly young when he passed away, and so I’ve always wondered if he could come back today, what would he think of what we did? It’s been very conservative growth, but we’re happy with what we’ve created, and I think both my grandpa and his brother would be proud of us,” she says.
Today, the company has about 200 employees who work at their seven different egg-laying farms and three breeding farms. The family also owns and farms 10,000 acres of corn and soybeans. The corn is used as their chicken feed.
Mindy says that the company is celebrating their 100th anniversary throughout all of 2025—but, she says there are plans to host a community event later this year.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Creighton Brothers!
CLICK BELOW for Hoosier Ag Today’s radio news report:
