The Birth of the Paper Valley
Background Information
The decline of wheat farming in Wisconsin and the growth of the logging industry opened the way for papermaking to come to the Fox Valley. This industry had both immediate and long-lasting effects on the environment and economy. The Fox Valley remains one of the nation’s leading producers of paper products, particularly specialty and coated papers.
The first paper mills to open in the Valley were the Richmond Brothers’ Mill (1853) and the Appleton Paper Company (1866). These early mills were built on the Fox River in Appleton and produced cotton rag paper. In 1872, as wheat crop failures left a void in the economy, the Keller ground-wood process for making pulp was introduced to the Valley. MORE
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Developed by the Outagamie County Historical Society with funding from Cooperative Education Service Agency 6, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and the U.S. Department of Education. © 2006 OCHS.
Article "Paper and Pulp Mills," Illustrated Annual Review of the Appleton Post Devoted to the City of Appleton, Wisconsin, Its Water Power and Industries; also An Historical Sketch of the Fox River, 1879.
Advertisement for Appleton Paper Mills, in the Appleton Crescent, April 25, 1857.
Photograph of the interior of an unidentified Fox Valley paper mill, circa 1905.
Newspaper article "Appleton Paper Mills," Appleton Crescent, March 24, 1860.
Photograph of the Richmond Brothers Paper Mill, 1882.
