J. L. Wade and How It All Began

According to Dr. T.E. Musselman (now deceased) J.L. Wade’s associate, in the book, Purple Martin-America’s Most Wanted Bird by J.L. Wade, it all began in the mid sixties when the local Jaycees called upon Mr. Wade and his antenna factory to make aluminum birdhouses to solve the insect problem of a small midwest town without the use of chemicals. When the houses were installed and Mr. Wade saw how Purple Martins took to these new metal houses and how townspeople began to bond with the martins in Griggsville, he began a high intensity public relations programs that was to continue for several decades. The entire town of Griggsville, IL joined in and willingly participated in the Wade Purple Martin program that put them all happily on the map.

Up until he built the birdhouses for the Jaycees/Griggsville project, no martin housing had been made out of lightweight aluminum. And, martin housing was of the old style. Either it was stationary on the pole or it took several folks to tip or tilt the heavy, burdensome house down at the end of the season.

Mr. Wade sought the services of a well known Illinois ornithologist from Quincy, IL, Dr. T.E. Musselman. It was Dr. Musselman’s study and belief that a modern martin house should definitely raise and lower vertically and respond to starlings and sparrows. With Wade’s collaboration with Dr. Musselman, the original Trio Musselman house was hatched, and, with this modern manufacturing of the new fangled aluminum house, landlords (a new Purple Martin term), could now raise and lower modern martin houses on metal telescoping poles.

Eventually, Wade bested himself over the years with better made house poles with winching systems to raise his houses. Wade’s business, Trio Mfg. Co. has held steadfast to the belief that traditional 6" x 6" x 6" com-partments are still best for martins and prevent intrusions of starlings because they do not meet the nesting requirements of European Starlings and the shiny interiors deter the starlings from nesting.

As for House Sparrows, Trio is one of the few major Purple Martin house manufacturers to have always offered in-house traps called the Spare-o-Door Trap as the very effective stand alone ST-1 cage-trap. And, by today’s standards, Trio Purple Martin houses remain a bargain among many higher priced martin housing systems.

Simply put, Purple Martins, in the olden days, were just not managed on a regular basis. Sparrows and starlings were not controlled. With Wade’s easily managed modern houses of the sixties, now Purple Martins were finally getting a break. House Sparrows were not only getting evicted, they could be trapped right where they caused the most trouble?in the martin houses.

In his zeal to promote Purple Martins, Mr. Wade continued to upgrade Purple Martin housing through thicker gauge metal poles and winching systems for his martin houses. The Musselman, or M12-K, house, recently renamed The Pioneer to reflect changing times, will probably always be the M12-K, or Musselman house to thousands, upon thousands of Purple Martins landlords. The most ever popular of the Trio products remains the Trio Grandpa, now known as the MSS-12 Safety System with the special lanyard lock that prevents the house from accidentally falling. The Taj Mahal of Trio houses is the distinctive PMC-24, or Trio Castle, well-known with its pie-shaped compartments.

While not much has changed in the Trio designs in the last few years with the exceptions of the recent Safety Systems, the Trio houses remain popular products and continue to be a quite effective in attracting martins. For many years, Mr. Wade worked tirelessly for Purple Martins promoting that the birds consumed tremendous amounts of mosquitoes. While scientific studies have not corroborated his contention, mosquito control continues to be an effective market technique for his company.

Decades before The Purple Martin Society, NA and other organizations, J.L. Wade promoted conservation of Purple Martins , though under the guises of the business world but there is no doubt that the man loved Purple Martins. As he watched the steely blue purple birds diving about in the air, he felt that he could through his business promote a chemical free, mosquito abatement program throughout the Purple Martin’s breeding range.

Wade’s houses made average citizens amateur managers of a wildbird species in a serious conservation effort. Today, over one million people erect Purple Martin Houses, many of these due to the life work of J.L. Wade.

Today, Mr. Wade, 88, is semi retired and while he still oversees his business interest in Griggsville, he spends much time in Arizona, presumably watching different martins, the desert martins (Progne subis hesperia).

Article is from The Scout Report Vol. 9 (2)