In 1941, the American Tissue Mills announced it would consolidate some of its operations. In 1942, the company leased the 50,000-square-foot 38 Winter Street complex to the adjacent Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation. This consisted of the 3-story main mill and a 1-story building, both with basements. The wax paper division, which operated on Winter Street, was moved into American Tissue’s Crescent Street mill.
In 1946, American Tissue Mills offered the Winter Street mill for sale, as Worthington Pump declined to purchase the property. In 1948, the company was producing 50,000 pounds of paper products daily at its two paper mills and three converting factories.
In 1951, the company was awarded a $48,000 defense contract to supply paper products to the New York and Chicago army quartermasters. The company was soon approaching 10% of its work in the defense industry.
In 1952, to secure a $342,000 loan, the company pledged its assets at Holyoke’s Crescent and Winter Street plants and South Hadley’s Pearl City and Stony Brook factories. The loan was secured from C.I.T. in New York City. The loan had a high interest rate and a $5,700 monthly payment over 5 years.
Six months later, in December 1952, the Perkins family relinquished their positions as officers and directors of the company. A three-member board served as the company’s trustees. The loan was refinanced, and there was hope that the company could move forward.
In May 1953, control of the company was transferred to Edward Krock, a well-known industrial liquidator from North Brookfield, Massachusetts.
The corporate debt owed to 382 creditors was about $600,000. It would take a major effort to get creditors to agree to a satisfactory partial payout arrangement. The South Hadley mills were not operating, and a skeleton workforce was finishing some work in Holyoke. 300 workers were impacted by the closing. A receiver in the bankruptcy action was selected, and he planned to maintain a small workforce in Holyoke, hoping that a reorganization plan could be accepted, and the plant would resume some level of operation.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
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