wazzzy
2007-06-14 16:15:44 UTC
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/chi-hed_wadejun14,1,342913.story?coll=chi-newsobituaries-hed
In the early 1960s, the Jaycees in Griggsville, Ill., decided
something had to be done about the mosquitoes that plagued the town
during long, muggy summers.
The group turned to local television antenna manufacturer and nature-
lover Jesse "J.L." Wade. His solution, an aluminum bird condominium
atop a pole that would attract bug-eating purple martins, transformed
Griggsville into the "Purple Martin Capital of the Nation."
Mr. Wade, 94, died of an infection Saturday, June 9, in Scottsdale
Healthcare in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Mosquitoes and other biting bugs long had been a nuisance during muggy
summers in Griggsville, a town of about 1,300 west of Springfield
between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The problem became
especially acute during the annual Western Illinois Fair, when farmers
bring their best cows, pigs and ponies into town.
"The livestock left, the bugs stayed," said Karen Martin, editor of
Nature Society News in Griggsville.
Working with T.E. Musselman, a naturalist from Quincy, Ill., Mr. Wade
developed a lightweight birdhouse that could be produced in large
numbers by his company, Trio Manufacturing. The houses were designed
for purple martins, aerobatic members of the swallow family that nest
in colonies.
The aluminum houses Mr. Wade developed (a standard model, the MSS-12,
has three compartments on two levels on each side, with doors that
swing open) had several benefits. They were cool, well-ventilated and
drained easily following rain. The pole that held the houses up that
could be easily lowered and raised, allowing owners to clean out
sparrow nests and check for eggs.
"He had so many naysayers in the beginning," Martin said. "People
would say, 'Oh, you're going to bake the birds.' "
But Mr. Wade demonstrated that aluminum foil remains relatively cool
even after it had been in an hot oven.
The first houses went up in Griggsville in 1962. Mr. Wade, who in the
1970s changed the name of his company to Nature House, was a master
promoter. He once hired a helicopter to place a martin house on top of
a pole in Griggsville. On promotional visits to Chicago, he brought
along some food coloring to serve purple martinis.
Mr. Wade placed an ad in a Texas paper asking for 500,000 mosquitoes,
which he insisted be "in good health," to attract attention to his
birdhouses. A 1967 advertisement for martin houses in the Chicago
Tribune promised, "You'll love playing host to the friendly,
frolicsome purple martins that live entirely on insects and make your
outdoor living more enjoyable."
"One person always called him the P.T. Barnum of the bird world," said
his daughter, Susan Barr.
Mr. Wade's work generated so much interest in purple martins that the
non-profit Nature Society was formed to teach people more about the
birds.
"Mr. Wade was one of the icons of the purple martin world," said John
Tautin, executive director of the Purple Martin Conservation
Association in Erie, Pa.
Contrary to one of Mr. Wade's main selling points, however, purple
martins do not eat large numbers of mosquitoes, Tautin said. Instead
they concentrate on larger bugs such as dragonflies.
Griggsville residents maintain otherwise.
"I can tell you that the mosquitoes are not nearly as noticeable when
the martins are here as when they're gone," said Peggy Stanley of the
Nature Society.
Mr. Wade responded to the issue only with a sly chuckle, his daughter
said.
"To the day he died, he'd say, '2,000 mosquitoes a day,' " she said.
The mosquito issue aside, Mr. Wade should be lauded for "his overall
contributions to the purple martin world," Tautin said. "He educated
people about management of purple martins."
Mr. Wade was born in Valley City, Ill., near Griggsville, where he was
a high school basketball star. He went to the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign for a year, then returned to Griggsville and
opened a grocery store.
During World War II, he served in Europe and landed in Normandy during
the second day of the Allied invasion. He started Trio above his
grocery store two years after the war ended.
A duck hunter who owned a 1,200-acre wildlife refuge near Griggsville,
Mr. Wade had an interest in nature art and commissioned paintings of
the purple martin and of the state birds for every state in the
nation. He then had them signed by each governor as part of what he
called the "Governors State Bird Print Program."
Since the 1960s, 28 or so purple mountain houses have lined
Griggsville's main drag, Quincy Street, which has been officially
named Purple Martin Boulevard. The display is capped with a 40-foot
tower that contains more than 600 bird apartments. Dubbed the Empire
State Building of the Bird World, it was featured in the "Ripley's
Believe it or Not!" television show in 2001.
"I thought we weren't bizarre enough when they called, and they said
no, we have a nature segment," Martin said.
The houses, particularly the Empire State Building, have sparked "the
only tourism Griggsville has," said Mayor Kent Goewey.
"I was in City Hall this morning and four people from Missouri drove
by and stopped, got out took a picture. Posed the family and got a
picture. We have that every day," Goewey said.
Mr. Wade sold Nature House to Erva Tool & Die in Chicago in the fall.
Mr. Wade's wife, Margery, died in 1985.
Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., when services begin
Saturday in Airsman-Hires Chapel, Griggsville.
By Trevor Jensen
Tribune staff reporter
June 14, 2007
In the early 1960s, the Jaycees in Griggsville, Ill., decided
something had to be done about the mosquitoes that plagued the town
during long, muggy summers.
The group turned to local television antenna manufacturer and nature-
lover Jesse "J.L." Wade. His solution, an aluminum bird condominium
atop a pole that would attract bug-eating purple martins, transformed
Griggsville into the "Purple Martin Capital of the Nation."
Mr. Wade, 94, died of an infection Saturday, June 9, in Scottsdale
Healthcare in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Mosquitoes and other biting bugs long had been a nuisance during muggy
summers in Griggsville, a town of about 1,300 west of Springfield
between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The problem became
especially acute during the annual Western Illinois Fair, when farmers
bring their best cows, pigs and ponies into town.
"The livestock left, the bugs stayed," said Karen Martin, editor of
Nature Society News in Griggsville.
Working with T.E. Musselman, a naturalist from Quincy, Ill., Mr. Wade
developed a lightweight birdhouse that could be produced in large
numbers by his company, Trio Manufacturing. The houses were designed
for purple martins, aerobatic members of the swallow family that nest
in colonies.
The aluminum houses Mr. Wade developed (a standard model, the MSS-12,
has three compartments on two levels on each side, with doors that
swing open) had several benefits. They were cool, well-ventilated and
drained easily following rain. The pole that held the houses up that
could be easily lowered and raised, allowing owners to clean out
sparrow nests and check for eggs.
"He had so many naysayers in the beginning," Martin said. "People
would say, 'Oh, you're going to bake the birds.' "
But Mr. Wade demonstrated that aluminum foil remains relatively cool
even after it had been in an hot oven.
The first houses went up in Griggsville in 1962. Mr. Wade, who in the
1970s changed the name of his company to Nature House, was a master
promoter. He once hired a helicopter to place a martin house on top of
a pole in Griggsville. On promotional visits to Chicago, he brought
along some food coloring to serve purple martinis.
Mr. Wade placed an ad in a Texas paper asking for 500,000 mosquitoes,
which he insisted be "in good health," to attract attention to his
birdhouses. A 1967 advertisement for martin houses in the Chicago
Tribune promised, "You'll love playing host to the friendly,
frolicsome purple martins that live entirely on insects and make your
outdoor living more enjoyable."
"One person always called him the P.T. Barnum of the bird world," said
his daughter, Susan Barr.
Mr. Wade's work generated so much interest in purple martins that the
non-profit Nature Society was formed to teach people more about the
birds.
"Mr. Wade was one of the icons of the purple martin world," said John
Tautin, executive director of the Purple Martin Conservation
Association in Erie, Pa.
Contrary to one of Mr. Wade's main selling points, however, purple
martins do not eat large numbers of mosquitoes, Tautin said. Instead
they concentrate on larger bugs such as dragonflies.
Griggsville residents maintain otherwise.
"I can tell you that the mosquitoes are not nearly as noticeable when
the martins are here as when they're gone," said Peggy Stanley of the
Nature Society.
Mr. Wade responded to the issue only with a sly chuckle, his daughter
said.
"To the day he died, he'd say, '2,000 mosquitoes a day,' " she said.
The mosquito issue aside, Mr. Wade should be lauded for "his overall
contributions to the purple martin world," Tautin said. "He educated
people about management of purple martins."
Mr. Wade was born in Valley City, Ill., near Griggsville, where he was
a high school basketball star. He went to the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign for a year, then returned to Griggsville and
opened a grocery store.
During World War II, he served in Europe and landed in Normandy during
the second day of the Allied invasion. He started Trio above his
grocery store two years after the war ended.
A duck hunter who owned a 1,200-acre wildlife refuge near Griggsville,
Mr. Wade had an interest in nature art and commissioned paintings of
the purple martin and of the state birds for every state in the
nation. He then had them signed by each governor as part of what he
called the "Governors State Bird Print Program."
Since the 1960s, 28 or so purple mountain houses have lined
Griggsville's main drag, Quincy Street, which has been officially
named Purple Martin Boulevard. The display is capped with a 40-foot
tower that contains more than 600 bird apartments. Dubbed the Empire
State Building of the Bird World, it was featured in the "Ripley's
Believe it or Not!" television show in 2001.
"I thought we weren't bizarre enough when they called, and they said
no, we have a nature segment," Martin said.
The houses, particularly the Empire State Building, have sparked "the
only tourism Griggsville has," said Mayor Kent Goewey.
"I was in City Hall this morning and four people from Missouri drove
by and stopped, got out took a picture. Posed the family and got a
picture. We have that every day," Goewey said.
Mr. Wade sold Nature House to Erva Tool & Die in Chicago in the fall.
Mr. Wade's wife, Margery, died in 1985.
Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., when services begin
Saturday in Airsman-Hires Chapel, Griggsville.
By Trevor Jensen
Tribune staff reporter
June 14, 2007