August, 2004


	BLOOMSBURG PAPER COMPANY This 1910 photograph shows one of the five buildings of the paper mill located two miles west of Lightstreet along Fishing Creek. The plant had its origins beginning in 1840 as the Trench Paper Mills, owned by Thomas Trench in making wrapping paper. James M. Shew purchased the business in 1882 and developed water-proof cartridge paper and became an important supplier to the DuPont Power Company. Upon Shew’s death in 1904, his son-in-law, Robert J. Ruhl, ran the company. After a fire in 1903, the plant was rebuilt and enlarged. Unfortunately, two years later, another fire caused considerable damage to the operation but was again quickly rebuilt. Initially, the plant used turbine water wheels and later added the steam as an additional power source. The Democratic Sentinel reported in 1910 that since the plant had electric lights it often operate day and night. It had the capacity to produce three tons of paper daily requiring a work force between eighteen and twenty employees. Two sets of tracks connected the plant to the Bloomsburg and Sullivan and Susquehanna, Bloomsburg and Berwick Railroads.

Photo of the Month