Workers inside Great Northern Paper Co.’s mill in Madison, Maine, circa pre-1910. Special Collections in Fogler Library holds an archive of Great Northern Paper Co. records dating from 1889 to 1992.
In 1897, the Maine Legislature granted a charter to Charles Mullen and other Bangor lumbermen and timberland owners for development of waterpower on the West Branch of the Penobscot River in Millinocket, Maine. They formed Northern Development Co., which, in 1899, became one of Maine’s leading 20th-century companies — Great Northern Paper. The Millinocket mill was constructed that year and began producing newsprint in 1900. The company also acquired a mill in Madison, Maine, and built one in East Millinocket in 1907. In addition to its mills and timberland, Great Northern owned several farms, vessels and a hotel. By the 1940s, it held more than 2 million acres of timberland. In 1962, Great Northern was instrumental in organizing Great Southern Land and Paper Co., in Georgia, and the two merged three years later. A second merger in 1970, this one with Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co., in Wisconsin, began a tumultuous three decades that included multiple changes in ownership and bankruptcy in 2002. Fogler Library’s Special Collections holds an extensive archive of the first 103 years of Great Northern Paper Co. history, complete with executive, financial and sales records, and photographs.
