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The disappearing mill

Old mill building

Fans of the decaying industrial look need to get themselves down to River Street on the Hyde Park/Mattapan line pronto, before what's left of the old Bay State Paper plant is completely carted away as a developer turns the property into a mall (granted, a mall that sounds pretty cool). Already, about half the property consists of large mounds of dirt and gravel rather than hulking machinery and mysterious objects and buildings that look like they could cave in at any moment.

Like the valve says, the mill is closed:

Big wheel no longer keep on turnin':

A bridge to nowhere:

If there are any hawks around, the local sparrows have a great refuge:

The developers are keeping the building with the giant smokestack:

They're talking about turning it into a riverfront restaurant:

Apparently, the mill used to have electrified showerheads:

This looks like the oven the mill used to use to get rid of its mistakes:

Nearby are some interesting looking basement passageways, all dark and mysterious and probably filled with electrified showerheads:

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Comments

That site was/is the site of one of the oldest paper mills in the United States. Before Bay State Paper the site was home to Patriot Paper, James river amongst others. As a Paper Engineer with a degree from UMass Lowell, it is sad to see the paper industry collapse in the Bay State. Good jobs have just gone away. This year the last of the big mills in Massachusetts closed, Haverhill Paperboard, a 100% recycled paper mill in Bradford, MA.

This news is truly sad.

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Isn't there still a big paper mill on Route 2 in Erving?

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I for some reason thought Erving had shut down. Erving is still in existence. However the following have shut down over the last 10 years.

Haverhill Paperboard
Newark Atlantic Paperboard
Natick Paperboard
Merrimac Paper
Bay State Paper
IP Millers Falls (made strathmore)
Pepperell Paper
Perkitt folding box in Mattapan

Just to name a few have shut down.

It looks like
Newark America
Erving
Crocker Technical Papers
and Crane are still in existence

Some smaller specialty mills like the Bose internal speaker paper plant and Hollingsworth and Vose are still running as well.

The industry is a shell of its former self in Massachusetts.

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I know they lost a part of their holdings in a big fire a couple years back, but the Rt2 mill looked pretty busy last time I passed it.

They got into recycling paper instead of using virgin pulp, and it seems to be a big business for them. This area now seems to generate more waste paper than trees, so it makes sense.

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