Holyoke, MA ~ 1878
At one point capable of producing 24,000 pounds of product each day, the Mt. Tom Paper Company’s mill churned out paper along the Connecticut River for decades, meeting its final demise at the hands of massive fire in 2013.
Originally the Syms & Dudley paper mill, the Mt. Tom Company acquired the manufacturing facility sometime after 1881, either taking over operations or beginning anew. Built in similar fashion to other mill buildings along Holyoke’s Water Street and third level canal, the Mt. Tom Paper Co.’s building was framed with tremendous Heart Pine beams and decked out (no pun intended) with three-inch thick Heart Pine floors.
In 1899, the Mt. Tom Paper Company was folded into the American Writing Paper Company, a sizable trust built from of over one dozen nearby paper companies, including the Crocker, Gill, Nonotuck, and Albion companies. In 1906, after this consolidation, the Mt. Tom mill was listed as capable of producing 12 tons of paper per day. In 1912, the company is described as producing super-calendar and writing paper.
In recent years, the building contained a 450-kilowatt Holyoke Gas & Electric hydroelectric turbine capable of generating enough electricity for 225-250 homes.
With demolition work underway at the Mt. Tom site in 2013, metal cutting during salvage sparked a massive fire in the building, destroying what remained of the structure. Fire departments from South Hadley, Easthampton, Chicopee, and Westover assisted the Holyoke Fire Department in dousing the blaze.
Longleaf Lumber salvaged Heart Pine beams and decking from the Mt. Tom building. Sadly, thousands of board feet of recyclable material was destroyed before the salvage process could be completed.
Photographs courtesy nonotuck.us.