Within one year of Linden Paper Company forming, it was operating in its new large Jackson Street factory on April 23, 1893. This would begin a paper-making operation that would span more than 70 years at the same location.
One of the earliest fascinating nuggets of information reviewed was that the plant acquired its machinery belts from the Holyoke Belting Company on Winter Street. One belt in particular caught my attention. It was 70 inches wide, using 8 plies of rubber for strength, 95 and a half feet in length, and weighed 2,000 pounds. It was noted that it was one of the largest belts ever manufactured in the U. S.
Within one year of operations, the company increased its capital stock authorization from $200,000 to $400,000 to seek additional investors. The company, along with other papermakers, had to navigate through the turbulent economic times of the latter 1890s.
In late 1898, there were about 20 papermakers in the city participating in discussions about the merits of forming a combine with other New England companies. There were a total of approximately 36 independent companies in all, or about 90% of the eastern mills.
The purpose of forming a combine under one umbrella organization included better control over output, as the companies had been overproducing by more than 10% over actual demand, resulting in increased costs and creating waste or warehousing. Also, competition between these independent competing companies would be minimized, stabilizing prices. Companies would not be duplicating each other's products, but would now specialize in manufacturing specific grades of paper. Administrative costs would be reduced with centralization of office services.
The $40 million plan was to be coordinated by Price, McCormick & Co, bankers of New York, Dean & Shibley of Providence, Rhode Island and Lee Higginson & Company of Boston. It appeared to be a worthwhile plan on paper, especially during turbulent market conditions. For companies that did not join, owners felt they could be subject to financial ruin by the predatory tactics of the combine. The combine hoped to join 90% of the 47 mills producing writing, bond and ledger paper.
Franklin Paper Co., owned by James Ramage and George C. Gill Paper Co. initially did not join, seeking more money for selling to the combine.
Books and scholarly papers have been written about the American Writing Paper Co. (AWPCo) combine, and are only touched upon here in the flow of the Linden Paper Company topic. Linden Paper Company was one of the original combine members. Linden Paper Company petitioned for corporate dissolution in 1904, and the Superior Court in Springfield granted it in 1906.
The Linden Paper Company's name was changed to Eagle A Mill No. 12 Linden Division. AWPCo had gone through several financial reorganizations over its existence, largely due to upper-level management deficiencies.
During the flood of 1936, the Linden Paper Company was one of the few major Holyoke manufacturing firms that continued to operate. Crocker-McElwain Paper Co., Farr-Alpaca Co., William Skinner & Sons and the Appleton Street plant of the American Thread Company were some of the others that remained open.
By 1964, only 6 of Holyoke's Eagle A Mills were still in operation, including Albion Div. No. 2, Crocker Div. No. 5, Gill Div. No. 8, Linden Div. No. 12, Mt. Tom Div. No. 13 and Nonotuck Div. No. 14.
On January 3, 1968, officials of Brown Paper Company, owned by Gulf & Western, which now owned Linden Paper, announced it would gradually close the Linden Paper Mill plant over one year. 120 workers were reassigned to Brown's other 4 paper plants in Holyoke. Linden had been producing technical papers such as those used for blueprints.
The lack of profits was the main reason given for the plant closure. Brown's other plants included the Gill, Nonotuck, Crocker, and Albion Divisions.
The closing of the plant resulted in a quickly deteriorating building which had crumbling walls and roof and up to 20-foot holes in the floors. Water spewed from pipes and rusting valves. This would hamper water pressure for firefighters in the event of a fire.
In November 1970, after one year of ownership, Spruce Hill Tissue Company of New York laid off the watchman and shut off the sprinkler system and boilers. The company stopped paying real estate taxes.
After the City of Holyoke acquired the tax title to the property in early 1976, the mill was demolished by Haber Sand & Gravel Company of South Hadley in December of that year.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
