Connecticut River Paper Co. (1888-1899)

This is the third of a three-part series devoted to three papermaking companies that succeeded each other on the same parcel of land over the final 35 years of the 19th century.

Part 1. Bemis Paper Company (1865-1870) *

Part 2. Union Paper-Manufacturing Company (1870-1888) *

Part 3. Connecticut River Paper Company (1888-1899)

* To view these 2 stories, please search using either the Alphabetical Index or Blog Archive, dated 08-29-2026.

Lewis J. Powers and Roswell W. Fairfield purchased the former Union Paper-Manufacturing Company and formed a new corporation in November 1888. 

Seven minority shareholders of the Union Paper-Manufacturing Co, six of whom were from Holyoke and led by Roswell P. Crafts, felt that this was a questionable transaction. The court action indicated that Mr. Powers, in one of his last acts as President and Treasurer of the Union Paper-Manufacturing Company, transferred the corporation's real estate to John Shepard of Boston for a nominal sum. Mr. Shepard then transferred the real estate to Messrs. Powers and Fairfield in deference to Union's shareholders who lost their entire investments. 

Mr. Powers indicated that he wanted the upstart Connecticut River Paper Company to remain creditworthy to those to whom Union Paper owed money, and arrangements were being made to pay them in full. If Union Paper had gone into bankruptcy, shareholders would still have received nothing.

After the financial problems of its predecessor, the company changed its name to the Connecticut River Paper Company. The company produced 6 tons of high-quality, loft-dried writing paper daily. The company employed between 150 and 175 workers.

In 1890, a new addition was constructed at the factory site. The building was 100 feet by 60 feet, multi-storied, providing 33,000 square feet of additional floor space for production. The machines were expected to be installed for use in late 1890. 

A portion of the building was leased to a newly formed company, the Purcell Envelope Company, in 1895. Ten machines were installed, capable of producing 2.5 million envelopes daily.

In 1899, the Connecticut River Paper Company was purchased by American Writing Paper Company. 16 Holyoke paper firms joined to form the paper conglomerate, hoping to eliminate costly redundant services and control the supply of paper production to maintain higher prices.

The Connecticut River Paper Company name was replaced by Riverside Paper Division Mill No. 3 of the American Writing Paper Company.

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 

1911 Richard's Atlas of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts