AREA HISTORY:  Paper Mills, Spring Grove, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/
_______________________________________________ 

History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
_______________________________________________

SPRING GROVE PAPER MILLS – Page 689

The manufacturing of paper was begun by Jacob Hauer soon after the iron business 
was discontinued.  He conducted this new business until his death in 1853, after 
this event it was continued by his heirs, and managed by Mr. Bradley for a time, 
and then leased to a firm in Philadelphia.  In 1863 the present owner Mr. P. H. 
Glatfelter purchased the paper mill and all its interests for $14,000.  He had 
carefully learned the art of paper-making with the firm of Loucks & Hoffman at 
Paper Mills, Md., having been in their employ from the year 1857 until the time 
he purchased the Spring Grove Mills.  The capacity then was 1,500 pounds of 
paper a day; which by improvement was increased to 4,000 pounds in 1868.  He 
began the erection of new buildings in 1874, and furnished them with entirely 
new machinery, at a great expense.  The capacity of the new mill was 10,000 
pounds of paper a day, and its entire cost, $200,000.  Owing to the continued 
prosperity of his business, Mr. Glatfelter built additions and purchased new 
machinery, until the present capacity is the enormous amount of 30,000 pounds a 
day, or about 3,700 tons yearly, and is continually worked to fullest allowance.  
The buildings as they now stand, cover about five acres of land and with the 
machinery are valued at $450,000.  The printing paper is manufactured from wood, 
straw and waste paper.  The wood used is hickory-poplar and pine, and it costs 
$8 a cord delivered.  The machinery is run by one 300-horse power engine, which 
for effective completeness is unsurpassed.  Water is also utilized as a motor.  
The process of making printing paper at this mill is completed from the raw  
material in ten days.  About forty tons of coal are consumed daily.  There are 
now 100 employes.  The mill is run day and night and is lighted by electricity.  
One of the smoke stacks is 100 feet high, one 90 feet and another 70 feet.  
During the past few years, over $500,000 worth of business was transacted 
annually, and the demand for paper frequently exceeded the amount manufactured.  
The disbursements yearly to employes is over $50,000.  The valuable printing 
paper made here is sold in nearly every section of the United States.  Mr. 
Glatfelter owns and runs a number of his own cars which are specially 
constructed for his purpose.  The location is most admirable, being on the 
railroad and convenient to pure water, which is essential to the production of 
paper.  A siding runs from the railroad to the establishment, and connects with 
the Frederick Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Mr. P. H. Glatfelter, the enterprising proprietor of this extensive 
manufacturing industry, is a native of York County.  He was born in 1837 on a 
farm in Spring Garden Township, where his father still resides.  The first 
twenty years of his life he spent on the farm, and received his education in the 
common schools of his native township.  He spent seven years as an employe of 
Loucks & Hoffman, who owned a manufactory on the Gunpowder River at Paper Mills, 
Md.  At the age of twenty-seven he purchased the Spring Forge Mills which, until 
the time he became the owner, had made paper only in small quantities.  He began 
paper-making here for himself, with a small amount of capital, but by abundant 
native energy, natural adaptability to the business, and judicious care in 
management, continually increased his trade until he gained a reputation equal 
to any manufacturer in the same business.  Mr. Glatfelter was one of the first 
persons to engage in the manufacture of paper from straw and wood pulp.  His 
mill is the largest establishment devoted exclusively to the production of 
printing paper in America.  The now prosperous village of Spring Grove owes 
nearly everything to him, for its substantial and rapid growth.  In matters of 
public improvement for the material, educational and moral interests of the 
town, he has always shown a generous and philanthropic hand.  He is ably 
assisted by his son William and his brother Edward.