Throughout the Miami Valley, and at Middletown in particular, there had been a localization of the paper industry. This is due to certain geographic features. When the glacier retreated from this area, it left behind a vast cover of fine debris, which has served as a natural filter for water, one of the most important of the natural resources of the valley. It is this large underground supply of pure, clean water that has made the manufacture of fine papers a possibility in Middletown. Very few places in the United States can be found where the water is so free from iron and other impurities that discolor paper. 

After Middletown had built the hydraulic, water power was available for the operation of new mills. Along this hydraulic grew up the paper industry of Middletown, beginning in 1852 when the Erwin Mills were completed; and it expanded to large proportions. Middletown became famous for the manufacture of paper and was known as the "Paper City."

It was early discovered that paper mills could be operated profitably in the Miami Valley. J. W. Kills and Sons, who bought the mills operated for years by James Lowry and Company, were manufacturing paper in Springfield in 1833. They advertised that their price was "regulated by Cincinnati paper mills," and promised to use the best materials and workman..

In May, 1850, Beckett and Rigdon of Hamilton advertised: "The Undersigned that established an extensive paper mill at this place and are prepared to manufacture news and book paper of best quality. Machinery new and improved." The first Middletown news sheet was printed on paper made at Springfield, and in the fifties paper was obtained from the Hamilton paper mill. The Hamilton company bought rags for pulp in this region.

In 1852, John Erwin and Brothers build the Middletown Paper Mill, which fronted on one hundred and sixty feet on the hydraulic race, extended back seventy feet. Six engines were first put into operation, each carrying six hundred pounds of stock, or a total of 3600 pounds. A Fourdrinier machine, seventy-two inches wide, was set up. It was then the largest machine in the West--it was intended for the manufacture of book and news print exclusively. A cylinder machine, sixty-eight inches wide, was used in making wrapping and roofing paper. This machine produced 2,600 pounds of wrapping paper, or 4,400 pounds of roofing paper a day. The power used to drive the machinery consisted of four water wheels, capable of propelling sixteen run of stones. The largest wheel could drive ten run of mill stones. In the mill there were two boilers, double flued, twenty-two inches long and forty-two inches in diameter, which generated steam for bleaching and drying purposes.

By 1854 John Erwin and Company had put in operation a wrapping-paper department, and machinery for the manufacture of printing paper, which produced paper of fine texture. About 3,000 pounds of wrapping paper, and 2,400 pounds of printing paper were manufactured each day. The plant represented an investment of $30,000. In the main building wrapping paper was made; this room was forty by seventy feet. The printing room, which was thirty by sixty feet, had two wings, each one story, thirty by ninety feet, and twenty-four by fifty feet. Two steam boilers were used, twenty-four inch double flue, and twenty-four feet long. The printing machine was a seventy-six inch Fourdriner.

The company was managed by Mr. H. P. Clough, who was highly respected by the citizens of the town. He was friendly and attended to orders promptly.

The editor of the local paper stated that the completion of the Erwin Mills was very gratifying to the people of Middletown, for a great void was filled up "by the existence of a manufactory that will materially enhance the business of the place, and give employment directly or indirectly to a large number of persons." Formerly the local paper had been printed on paper bought from cities which were near to Middletown, but as soon as the local mill was completed, the printer bought his paper from a local establishment, for he declared that it was easier to obtain the paper and that there were no freight charges.

During the month of May, 1854, the Erwin paper mills manufactured 65,000 pounds of fine paper and newsprint. This was accomplished in spite of several shutdown caused by the repairing of the machinery. Mr. A. E. Harding, a skilled paper maker, was superintendent of the mill.

In 1854 the company was reorganized under the firm name of Oglesby, Tytus, Erwin and Company. With the assistance of Mr. W. B. Oglesby, George Barnitz, F. J. Tytus, George Erwin, William Moore, and A. E. Harding, more capital was brought into the organization, which enabled the men to build an addition for the manufacture of blotting and book paper--this mill was finished in 1855. Although the mill had been successful under the Erwin management, it prospered even more under the new organization.

In 1865 two members of the firm, George Erwin and A. E. Harding, withdrew, and the firm became Oglesby, Moore and Company. George Barnitz and F. J. Tytus continued as members of the firm. In 1873 the Oglesby, Moore and Company was incorporated with a capital of $200,000 with W. B. Oglesby as president, and George C. Barnitz, secretary. Harding and Erwin had withdrawn to construct the Excello mills. Upon the death of Mr. Moore in 1879, Mr. Tytus assumed control, but since the firm had been incorporated, it operated under its old firm name until 1887, when it became the W. B. Oglesby Paper Company. At that time a new mill was built at the south end of the original plant. The firm was under the management of the United States Playing Card Company, and it made board for the playing cards.

In 1881 the mill manufactured blotting, wrapping, and roofing papers. Approximately one hundred persons were employed, one-fourth of whom were women. The annual sales amounted to $150,000. The book and blotting paper mill was equipped with three 400-pound, and four 225-pound engines, and one seventy-two inch Fourdrinier. With the use of water power the mill manufactured 5000 pounds of book and blotting paper a day, or 1,300,000 pounds a year. The wrapping paper mill had two 450-pound and one 600-pound engines and a sixty-eight inch cylinder machine. Through the use of water and steam power, 4,500 pounds of wrapping paper and roofing paper were made a day, or 1,330,000 pounds a year.

In 1853, Richardson, Heaton, and Jacoby built the Globe Paper Mill. It was a large brick building, an "ornament to the town." The mill was equipped with a cylinder machine sixty-eight inches in width with three large engines each carrying three hundred pounds of stock. They manufactured a good quality of newsprint and sold it to large houses in Cincinnati. The Globe mill used power equal to six run of stone. The company employed twenty men, and started with a capital of $14,000. To take care of increasing business, Globe Mill, number two, was constructed.

In a few years Mr. George C. Barnitz and Mr. C. S. Barnitz obtained an interest in the mill. During the Civil War this mill manufactured large quantities of roofing paper, which it sold to the Federal government. The paper was taken by wagon to Fort Dennison, which was built on the Little Miami River.

This mill was later operated by a Hill and Sons, who operated Globe Mill, number one, and the mill they had constructed, the Valley Mill. Globe Mill, number two, was taken over by the William Oglesby Company in the early eighties. In 1888 the original Globe Mill was bought by the Tytus Paper Company, but this mill burned in 1900.

On the hydraulic, Erwin, Newmand and Company built a planing mill. In 1873 the building was bought by F. J. Tytus and converted into a paper mill. Mr. F. J. Tytus, J. B. Tytus, Colin Gardner, and John Shartle managed the Tytus Paper Company, which at one time had the largest mills in the West. In the seventies this company established records for paper production.

The first manila paper mill west of the Allegheny Mountains was constructed in Middletown in 1866. In that day manila wrapping paper was a novelty. Housekeepers hoarded this paper, using one sheet many times for different purposes. On August 5, 1866, this advertisement appeared in the Journal: "The manila paper mill, so called from the kind of paper it manufactures is owned by Messrs, Hill and Peck. It is the only mill of the kind in the west. The manila paper is much lighter and equally as strong as that of greater weight. It is highly esteemed by our merchants, and the enterprise will doubtless prove a success."

Hill and Peck were both Scottish immigrants. They were the first to manufacture manila paper, made from jute and rope pulp, in the West. They started their company with a thirty-six inch machine which would produce eight hundred pounds of manila in twenty-four hours. In those days this was considered no smell output. When Mr. Alexander Hill went to Cincinnati, acting as an agent for the new company, he approached a paper dealer whom he asked to handle the output of his mill. He was told that he could take only half his output and suggested that production be curtailed to prevent overloading the market with that kind of paper.

In the beginning burlap bagging and manila rope were the principal stock used. Later jute butts were found satisfactory, but with the demand for cheaper paper, rope and jute were gradually replaced by cheaper pulp.

In the early eighties the production of manila paper was 30,000 pounds a day as compared with 800 pounds daily production in 1866. In one of the mills of the company, the Valley Mill, there were three 600 to 700 pound engines and one Gould engine, as well as one fifty-six inch and one sixty-two inch cylinder power engine. The company used both water and steam power.

James Cecil, John Martin, and Joseph Sutphin built a paper mill in 1855 and began the manufacture of newsprint. In 1858 Mr. Martin and Mr. Cecil retired; Smith Wrenn became a partner of Joseph Sutphin and the new mill was called Sutphin and Wrenn.

Sutphin and Wrenn turned to the manufacture of news and book papers and heavy grades of blotting paper. In 1881 the company employed fifty persons. With a daily output of 5,500 pounds of paper, the sales of the company reached $200,000 a year. Both water and steam power were used in the mill. The company later turned its attention to specializing in blotting papers exclusively, and became known as the Wrenn Paper Company.

In 1867 S. H. Bachlor, J. K. Thomas, and C. H. Wardlow purchased from Marmaduke Dodsworth a little saw mill and flour mill, which had the water power rights at lock 11 on the Miami-Erie canal. The firm became Bachlor, Thomas and Company. The saw mill was torn down, and in its place a paper mill was built, which began operations in 1868.

When a fire destroyed the mill in 1872, Mr. Thomas bought out Mr. Bachlor’s interest, and the firm of Wardlow Thomas organized. In 1873 a new mill was built, and again in 1881 the plant’s increased business made necessary the construction of another mill. When this new mill was completed, the productive capacity of the plant was doubled. The new building was four hundred and sixty feet long, eighty-six feet wide, with two machine rooms, thirty-five feet square. The plant was equipped with ten rag engines, and one Gould engine, using both water and steam power. It used water from six wells and ten driven wells. In 1881 the plant had a capacity production per day of 12,000 to 14,000 pounds of paper, most of which was manila, flour sack, or bag paper.

The first writing paper mill west of the Allegheny Mountains was established by Mr. A. E. Harding. His career is typical of the early business man.

Mr. A. E. Harding was born in Shottermill, Surrey, England, on March 14, 1829. His paternal ancestors had for many years been interested in the making of fine papers. His father John Harding ran the sickel Mill, a small vat mill located in the village of Shottermills. John Harding died before his son was born. During the father’s lifetime the family had been in comfortable circumstances, but after his death, times were hard. At the age of seven the boy had to look for a job.

He first obtained a job at the Sickel mill, where his father had worked. He became an apprentice working as drawing slice. He worked at this job until he was seventeen, then left to serve as an apprentice in the paper mill in Surrey at Carshallton. Here he worked until 1850, when he obtained the status of a journeyman paper maker.

He emigrated to the United States, landing in New York in October, 1850. He immediately went to Massachusetts and obtained a job in the paper mills at Draycott. The next spring he went west to the Ohio country. To get money to go west he sold Standard English works. He secured a job as machine tender at the Black Bottom paper mill (located six miles south of Hamilton) which was operated by Mr. Graham. He liked the country, and later obtained jobs in the paper mills of Hamilton and Dayton. At Hamilton he worked for Beckett and Rigdon.

In June, 1853, he came to Middletown to become superintendent of the Erwin paper mill, the first mill erected here. In 1856, when the firm was reorganized, he was admitted to the partnership.

He remained with the company until 1865, when he sold his interest in that company to become a member of the firm of Harding, Erwin and Company. In 1865 Mr. Harding, George Erwin, and Abram Upp laid the foundation stone of the Excello Writing-Paper Mill, the first mill to successfully manufacture first-class writing paper west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Excello mill had been erected on the site of an old distillery; The first sheet of paper was taken from the mill November , 1865. The mill was a success and disproved the statements of Eastern manufacturers, who said that fine writing paper could not be manufactured in the West.

In 1872 Mr. Erwin retired from the firm, and the Harding Paper Company was organized. Since the demand for the product of the mill grew so rapidly, in 1874 the Harding mill at Franklin was put into operation. Three years later this mill was destroyed by fire, but it was rebuilt in 1880. Upon the death of Mr. Harding in 1885, his son, C. M. Harding, and T. A. Jones carried on the business. In 1886 the mill was rebuilt.

Throughout the years the mill was a great success. The finest writing paper was produced there. Linen bond and ledger paper were among its specialties.

In 1865 the mill produced 2,500 pounds a day. In 1881 the mill produced 3,000 pounds of paper a day or 900,000 pounds a year. At that time one hundred and thirty people were employed; eighty per cent of the employees were women. The sale amounted to $200,000 yearly; the payroll averaged $1000 a week.