During the early 20th century, papermaking and paper processing remained major industries in Holyoke. One of the paper-converting plants that demonstrated longevity was Eastern Specialties Company, the subject of this 3-part series.
The year was 1924, and Holyoke residents and brothers Charles E. Demaree and Paul N. Desmarais received a corporate charter to buy, sell, manufacture and import paper. The name of their business was Eastern Specialties Company Incorporated. The business may have started in 1920, according to some reports, as Eastern Specialties celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1945.
Paper converters were prevalent in Holyoke, producing pads, bound paper, printed paper, colored paper and many other lines of finished paper goods. Eastern Specialties had a unique niche in the industry, starting out by producing ticker tape and evolving into other rolled-paper specialties. Ticker tape was prominently used at the New York Stock Exchange.
The company started out in the American Braiding (Feinstein) building at the northeast corner of Race and Appleton Street. The address was 166 Race Street, and as of this writing, the building is known as the Cubit building. The company had 13,000 square feet of operating space.
In 1933, Eastern Specialties, through United Press International (UPI) and the Associated Press (AP), was awarded the contract to supply ticker tape to all newspapers in the United States that were served by these two major news services. Imprinted messages would be recorded on ticker tape alongside the latest news stories that editors might want to include in their editions.
In 1938, the company expanded, taking another 5,000 square feet of space in the American Braiding building. Company officials stated that the company was able to produce many types of paper rolls used in the fields of computing, calculating and recording.
In 1940, the company produced a new, high-grade paper roll, Esco-Rolls, imprinted with a watermark to distinguish it from competing substandard products. The company’s customer base was willing to pay higher prices for the high-quality rolled paper. Eastern Specialties established high standards for its product line.
Using its machinery, the company manufactured processed rolls, such as printed, ruled and carbonized. A new, specialized machine was installed to rule, slit, and rewind 9-mill rolls simultaneously for copy purposes.
The company began its long relationship with the federal government around 1942 during World War II. Eastern Specialties manufactured a rolled paper that would record X-Ray results of any imperfections in military shells. Once imperfections were detected, military technicians would clear the debris, helping prevent accidental explosions or other malfunctions.
In 1943, the company needed more space and relocated to 5 Appleton Street in the former Norman Paper building. The 15,000-square-foot manufacturing space was leased from the Holyoke Water Power Company.
In the early 1950s, the company entered the field of manufacturing sound recording paper tape. The tape could carry high-fidelity sound and could be slit and spliced to remove unwanted material. The tapes would handle up to 15 minutes of recordings.
In 1951, Richard Nickerson, formerly a personnel manager at Worthington Pump, joined his father-in-law, Charles Demaree, as the President’s assistant. Mr. Demaree died later that year.
The story of Eastern Specialties Company’s growth continues in the following chapter.
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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