When I was a kid growing up in Kalamazoo, it was known as “The Paper City.” Our fifth grade teacher–a very eccentric personality–told us about the way paper was made and emphasized that the reason we were not to eat paper (a common habit in elementary school) was that the workers in the paper mills would chew tobacco and spit it at random into the vats of liquid paper. That was why we would occasionally see a little burst of tan, like a star or partial star, on a sheet of white paper.
Kalamazoo was home to several paper mills and companies. Here is a little info I found online:
Taking advantage of the area’s bountiful water resources, in 1867 the Kalamazoo Paper Company opened its first mill. According to historian Larry Massie, the company provided a training ground for paper makers and “was one reason for the amazing proliferation of paper mills throughout the Kalamazoo Valley.” The area’s proximity to Chicago, its excellent railroad network and its large labor force further aided the industry’s development. By the early twentieth century, Kalamazoo County was the state’s dominant paper producer. According to 1904 state census figures, its five paper and wood pulp mills (one-sixth of the state’s total) represented 25 percent of the industry’s capital value. By World War I, Kalamazoo was the center of the largest paper-producing area in the United States. The industry employed one-half of the city’s labor force.
My mother-in-law, Diana Dale Castle, painted one of the mills in 1970. This is the Monarch Paper Mill, owned by Allied Paper Company.
The Kalamazoo Library has a terrible image of the Monarch mill from 1910 here. And this one slightly better.
Here is a photo of the machine room and of the male workers in 1915. There is also a photo of one John Bushouse at the mill in 1915. All this is left now of the Monarch Mill is the pond. In a Facebook group for old Kalamazoo, people talked about swimming at the mill pond. I can’t imagine this because I remember driving past the pond and thinking ICK and SCARY.
A quick search on Ancestry for John Bushouse reveals that it is a somewhat common name in Kalamazoo and that the owners of the name are immigrants from the Netherlands or their children. I could not find the John Bushouse that worked at the mill in 1915.
I found an unidentified photograph made from one of Joseph DeKorn’s glass negatives that seems to be from the heyday of paper manufacturing in Kalamazoo. Since it was one of the DeKorn negatives that means that the photograph was probably taken between 1903 and 1918. I suspect that it is an image of a paper mill. If you agree that it is probably a paper mill, do you think it is the Monarch mill or a different one? Before you answer that, you should check the photo in the second library link so that you have enough information.
According to one source, at one time, paper mills were the 5th largest employer in Kalamazoo. According to the source I quoted above, HALF the labor population worked in the paper industry! But that business dried up in the 80s. Obviously, paper is still being made, so why not in Kalamazoo?
The Family Kalamazoo 
We live surrounded by paper mills and old, abandoned textile mills along the Hudson River. While environmentally some of the mills were a disaster (dye running into the little streams in places like Gloversville–yes where gloves were made) it’s sad to see how towns were destroyed when manufacturers went overseas.
Oh, it’s so so sad to see towns destroyed. I knew about Gloversville because I used to sell gloves in our store. We had pollution problems in the Kalamazoo river, too, from the mills. Although this is a different type of mill entirely, have you ever read Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis? Quite a document of the time period . . . .
When I was at primary school (like Elementary I think) in the 1970s we had exam books printed on paper marked Kalamazoo
Oh, wow! And you probably wondered “where in the hell is Kalamazoo,” which is a pretty well-known expression. https://www.google.com/search?q=where+in+the+hell+is+kalamazoo&biw=1600&bih=770&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCltuXsJXSAhVirFQKHR92B-4Q_AUICCgD#tbm=isch&q=%22where+in+the+hell+is+kalamazoo%22&imgrc=xlf8-tLMDqbnxM:
For a long time I didn’t even know it was a place, I thought it was a brand of paper
I can understand that! Kalamazoo is an unusual name!
I’m having trouble seeing the photos in the links so can’t compare. (I’m at the beach.). But I wanted to share that I live a few miles from Holyoke Massachusetts, which is also called the Paper City. Another old mill town that is now poverty stricken area. Sad. Where is paper made these days?
You’re at the WHAT? 🙂 Hope you’re having fun. That is not too far from Mount Holyoke College, right (I considered going there once upon a time)? I didn’t know that Holyoke was called The Paper City!
It’s possible that it might be the same building, but only because of the three smokestacks(?). Otherwise the buildings in the 2 photos look nothing alike – the photos would have to been taken on different sides of the building. The library photo shows a road in the foreground and lots of windows in the buildings, while your photo has a farm of some kind and fewer windows. I never realized until a few years ago that nearby Parchment was built as a company town for the Kalamazoo paper mills.
Jill, are you on Vanished Kalamazoo? It looks like it could be the Bryant paper mill. I did NOT know that about Parchment! Wow, that is fabulous information!
My thoughts on paper mills. They were huge polluters, at least in Monroe, where, when I was a kid, there were two mills right on the River Raisin — River Raisin Paper Company and Consolidated Paper. There were other paper companies dating back to the early 1800s, I think. From an article in the Detroit News, Sunday, September 19, 1926:
“The paper mills dump their acids and refuse into a small creek that meanders down to the Raisin. Every day the creek discharges thousands of cubic feet of polluted water into the river, debouching at the head of the marshes. There the river is almost the consistency of glue, is of a chocolate color and churned into an evil smelling froth by the big gas bubbles that arise from the bottom.”
http://monroe.lib.mi.us/bygones/marshes-despoiled-poison-polluted-river-raisin
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Yes, Chinese paper has been very cheap. When in Canada, I learned that most of their lumber goes to China for building and paper making. From Wikipedia:
“The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard and other cellulose-based products. The industry is dominated by North American (United States and Canada), northern European (Finland, Sweden, and North-West Russia) and East Asian countries (such as East Siberian Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea). Australasia and Brazil also have significant pulp and paper enterprises. The United States had been the world’s leading producer of paper until it was overtaken by China in 2009.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_and_paper_industry
Terrible polluters. In fact, I grew up thinking that rivers were always polluted. That it was the natural state of a river to be polluted as long as humans were around its banks. Thanks for the info. China! I should have guessed that, really.
Your teacher’s story about workers spitting tobacco juice into the paper vats made me smile. It’s interesting which tidbits of our education stick in our memories across the years.
I will spare you the same teacher’s story about tapeworms! She was quite the “piece of work.” Hard to forget that class!
Great old photos! Your MIL’s painting is so good. Quite a talent! 🎨 😊
Thanks, Linda! Yes, she was!
Oh how I remember all of the paper eating in elementary school! I thought it was weird and didn’t do it. I’m really happy about that decision now after reading your post. 🙂
LOL, I didn’t either, but after she told us that, ICK. A lot of boys did it, though.
Hi, Luanne. I didn’t know that KZ was famous for its paper mills….and I live in GR–known as a furniture city. These cities have had to reinvent themselves as the manufacturing changes. GR is now identifying itself as “the beer city.” 🙂
That’s kind of funny since Kalamazoo is trying to become beer city! Yes, Kalamazoo was The Celery City, but then it was also The Paper City. Then it was the Mall City, too. Growing up, I thought it was Upjohn City. By the way, I’ve posted about my great-great-grandfather Mulder who immigrated to GR from the Netherlands. He was a furniture maker.
Celery City. It has a nice “ring” to it, but…celery??? Will check out your great-great-grandfather post.
Oh, yes, that glorious black muck in Kalamazoo is perfect for growing celery. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22celery+city%22&rlz=1C1SNNT_enUS517US517&espv=2&biw=1455&bih=700&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5y_X3vKnSAhVKzGMKHUrfCscQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=zfvxmUon2o-tyM:
The Squire grew up in Canton, NC, near the Tennessee border. Champion Paper is still a big employer in the town, and a lot of his classmates worked here until they retired.
You are certainly correct about the pollution. He is half Cherokee and he used to tell me that his skin was only darker than mine from swimming in the Pigeon River. The EPA made Champion “clean up their act” and the river is *much* better now.
I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that paper has been made in so many cities. I can imagine the rivers were made just awful from the paper mills!
When I was a child my family would go to Three Rivers, Mich to visit relatives and we always brought pure (?) celery back to Beloit. It was white as snow and years later you could not even find it in the storesl My brother’s foster parents mailed a wooden box full as a gift. I remember it was expensive by then. Anyone know if it can be found?
Thanks for the input! Ed L.
Ed, it sounds wonderful. There is a Vanished Kalamazoo group on Facebook. I will pose the question there.
Ed, people on Facebook said that “the whiteness was achieved by blocking out the sun with bleaching boards” (also called “celery boards”) “on each side of the stalk for part of the growing period. The temporary lack of sun in the process suppressed some of the naturally bitter taste.” One person said that his grandfather would take a truckload to Louisville and the celery would be gone within an hour! Someone else shared an old postcard showing how white the celery was. I’ll email it to you!
Well, I finally learned where e we got celery! Thanks for the info.
You’re welcome! And thank you for the new photos!
I am 64. My grandpa was plant manager at KVP in Parchment when i was a small child. He would be amazed today to see it is all gone. He help start the credit union. It was Jim Armstrong.
Scott, thank you for writing here. Such great info!