| Alpha-Numeric Key: | OR-34 |
| Corporate Name: | Orange Paper Mill Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Orange Paper Mill Company, Orange Pulp and Paper Mill, and the Yellow Pine Papermill Company, 1924: W. H. Stark, president; H. Lutcher Brown, active vice president; R. A. Moore, vice president; E. W. Brown Jr., secretary-treasurer; and with the former |
| Location: | Orange |
| County: | Orange |
| Years in Operation: | 34 years |
| Start Year: | 1904 |
| End Year: | 1937 |
| Decades: | - |
| Period of Operation: | 1904 to 1937 |
| Town: | Orange |
| Company Town: | 2 |
| Peak Town Size: | Unknown |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Yellow pine wrapping paper, pulp
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
 Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam, electricity
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | |
| Capacity Comments: | Eight tons daily with plans in 1909 to increase it to thirty tons by 1934. 1937: 45 to 50 tons daily of wrapping paper. Projected 75-ton daily capacity of pulp. |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Paper mill |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Unknown |
| Historicial Development: | Dr. E. W. Brown, W. H. Stark, J. W. Link, and Leopold Miller built the Yellow Pine Paper Mill Company on Adams Bayou in western Orange City in 1904. The Southern Industrial and Lumber Review in June 1909 that the Orange Paper Mill Company was making paper from yellow pine waste at Orange, Texas. Officers of the company are W. H. Stark, president; J. W. Link, vice president; F. H. Farwell, secretary and treasurer; E. D. Goodell, general manager; and E. E. Emigh, superintendent. The mill site covered several acres. Seventy-five men, working double shifts, were turning out eight to ten tons of paper daily in a single shift. The refuse from the sawmills of Orange produced the raw material for papermaking. Switch engines pull high-sided cars from the other mills, full of sawdust and shavings. The major problem that continued for the first four years of the mills operation was that the product contained too much resin and pitch. By 1908, continual refining of the industrial process eliminated the impurities so that a fine, quality wrapping paper was being produced. Northern capital began to invest in the mill. The managers were undertaking a program of building and expansion to create new facilities, bring in more machinery, and increase production to thirty tons daily. The paper mill would become the second most valuable commercial institution in the city. Experimenting with soda, the millers wanted to make paper out of pine waste. After six years of producing an oily-blotched paper product, the sulphate process was substituted for that of soda, and was successful. By 1918, production had increased daily from twenty-five to thirty-five tons of quality kraft paper. To produce thirty-five tons daily requires the refuse from abut 560,000 board feet. The Texas Forest News reported in 1937 that the Orange Pulp and Paper Mills, Inc., had been recently purchased and modernized. The company was adding a new pulp mill to compliment its paper production. The mill eventually employed about 500 workers.
|
| Research Date: | MCJ 03-24-96 |
| Prepared By: | M. Johnson |