The Crocker Manufacturing Co., Division No. 5 of the American Writing Paper Co., continued well into the 20th century. From 1899 to 1903, Clifton Alvah Crocker was a director and sat on the Executive Board of the American Writing Paper Co. He had joined his family's company at age 18 in 1876 and was named Treasurer at the age of 28 when his brother Daniel Putnam Crocker died.
In 1903, Clifton A. Crocker and his brother-in-law, R. Franklin McElwain, formed the Crocker-McElwain Paper Co. The story of this large paper concern will be told in a future edition.
By 1950, only 6 of the original entrants to the American Writing Paper Company remained operating. This included the Eagle A mills of the Albion Division No. 2, Croker Division No. 5, Gill Division No. 8, Linden Division No. 12, Mt. Tom Division No. 13, and Nonotuck Division No. 14. All except for the Linden Division were located on Water Street. The Linden Division was situated on Jackson Street.
American Writing Paper Eagle A sold the divisions in December 1962 to the Brown Paper Company. In 1976, the Crocker Division was shut down when Brown Company's Eagle A Linweave Division was sold to Fox River Co. of Appleton, Wisconsin. This left only the Nonotuck Paper Co. as the survivor of the original American Writing Co.'s Holyoke divisions.
In 1979, Robert C. Belsky, manager of the Brown Co., said he would purchase Brown Co., then a division of Gulf & Western, and reopen the Crocker mill. This would result in hiring 80-100 employees. This would bring the total number of employees to 300, including both the Nonotuck and Crocker divisions. It was anticipated that 42,000 tons of cover and text papers would be produced annually.
The company operated successfully for several of the next 10 years until an economic downturn. For a period of time, it sold its surplus energy to the Fitchburg Gas & Electric Company. Linweave was sold to the Fox River Paper Company in October 1989. The plant closed its doors on October 6, 1989, ending over 115 years of paper production.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Genealogy Records and Price & Lee, Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
