(Abbreviated) History of the Paper industry in the Upper Housatonic River Valley
The upper Housatonic Valley is a singular geographical and cultural region that has made significant national contributions through its literary, artistic, musical, and architectural achievements, its iron, paper, and electrical equipment industries, and its scenic beautification and environmental conservation efforts.
The Pittsfield region was among the first in the nation to make paper for markets other than its own. At one point, 56 paper mills were constructed along the region’s waterways.
By 1850, most towns had small factories along the upper Housatonic’s banks, using the river as both a source of water for their manufacturing or a power source.
Papermaking began in 1801 with the founding of Crane & Company in Dalton. Crane & Company still manufactures paper used for U.S. currency. By the 1840s, the southern Berkshires was the center of the country’s paper industry. America’s first wood pulp paper operations started in Curtisville and Lee. Dard Hunter’s artisanal papermaking enterprise at Lime Rock, Connecticut, in the late 1920s and 1930s helped inspire the rebirth of the craft of making paper by hand in this country.
The oldest active paper company in the country is Crane & Company, which still makes the paper for U.S. currency. Crane’s Old Stone Mill Rag Room, Dalton, is a papermaking museum that is a national historic landmark. There are many other sites in the region that became elements of a Paper Industry Heritage Trail.
In Lee, in 2009, two Mead Westvaco employees purchased the Willow Mill, in South Lee, which might have otherwise closed. Operating as Onyx Specialty Papers, this paper mill makes specialty papers used in decor applications, automobile manufacture, biomedical applications, and more.
The first commercially viable paper from wood pulp was made at this Columbia Mill in Lee, in 1867. 100 years later, this Columbia Mill would have the record for the thinnest paper made.
The way the river fell and the quality of the water made the Housatonic River an ideal site for paper making.
A parade features employees from the Mountain Mill in Lee.
A carton of paper for United States currency gets boxed up for its trip to Washington D.C. from Crane’s Government Mill in this photo from the late 1800s. Crane still makes U.S. currency paper, and that of many foreign currencies as well.
Papermaking at Lime Rock
Eaton Crane and Pike newpaper ad
The Pittsfield Sun; Date: 10-22-1868
In 2009, Pat Begrowicz and Chris Mathews bought this Willow Mill from their employer, Mead Westvaco, thus carrying paper making heritage into the future in Lee. In 2008, Schweitzer Mauduit closed four local paper mills, and Mead Westvaco closed one, leaving this Willow Mill, the only operating paper mill in town. The two employees also bought the closed Laurel Mill from Mead Westvaco.