Holyoke in Massachusetts is known as Paper City
News News blog
When the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts was founded, it was intended as a manufacturing centre for textiles. Despite protests at the founding of the Parsons Paper Company that a pulp and paper company was a poor use of space and unprofitable, by 1885 the city was the largest producer of paper goods in the United States.
For by 1885 Holyoke was the largest single producer of paper in the United States, with a daily output of about 190 tons, more than twice the size of the next largest producer, Philadelphia, with a daily output of 69 tons, although its population was nearly 40 times as large.
By 1920, the city was home to numerous paper mills, producing 80% of the writing paper used in the United States, as well as the largest silk and alpaca wool mills in the world. The city was also home to the largest paper mill factory in the United States, D. H. & A. B. Tower, which constructed at least 25 such mills in Holyoke alone. Although there are far fewer companies involved in the paper industry in Holyoke today, the city is still commonly referred to as "The Paper City".
While many of these paper mills were lost to fires, redevelopment and demolition, a number have been rehabilitated today. Although the Massachusetts Historical Commission had determined that they were eligible as part of the Holyoke Canal System, no mills in the city were listed on the National Register of Historic Places until 2022.
