 |
The Beckett Paper Company was established in 1848 at Hamilton, Ohio. It is the oldest industry in Hamilton and is believed to be the oldest paper mill west of the Allegheny Mountains. The founders were Calvin Reilly, an investor, of Toledo, Ohio, and Adam Laurie, a young paper maker from Glasgow, Scotland. |
At that time, Hamilton was a village of 2,000 population
and Cincinnati, with its 100,000 population, was the foremost city of the
West. Calvin Reilly came to Hamilton in search of a place for investment.
There was no railroad, but the Miami and Erie canal provided transportation
and there was hydraulic power. These facilities had already attracted cotton,
woolen and saw mills, and influenced Mr. Reilly to purchase lands on which
the Beckett Paper Company has ever since been located, and contracted for
water power.
| The situation seemed favorable for paper making. There was an abundance of pure water and the great market of Cincinnati was at hand. Mr. Reilly knew nothing of the manufacture of paper, but he was able to employ as his superintendent Adam Laurie, a practical paper maker who also possessed considerable business ability. Under the terms of his employment, Mr. Laurie was to supervise the construction of the mill and operate it when completed. |  |
|
employees including Thomas Beckett, third from left in the second row from the top. |
But before the work had progressed beyond the foundations,
Mr. Reilly failed and left Mr. Laurie stranded. In this emergency Adam
Laurie turned to William Beckett, a young lawyer who had begun to speculate
in Hamilton real estate, particularly in industrial sites with hydraulic
power facilities. Mr. Laurie had prepared a prospectus showing that the
proposed paper mill could be built complete for $12,000. The daily cost
of operation was estimated at $155.63. It was proposed to make 2,000 pounds
of printing paper daily, valued at $182.50. On an operating schedule of
280 days a year an aggregate net profit of $5,027.60 was anticipated, or
earnings of $17.92 for each working day. These representations interested
William Beckett and he gave up his law practice for the paper business
and various other promotional activities. The mill was completed at a cost
of $12,000 and has been operated on the same site and under the same family
control for over 92 years.
 |
At the death of William Beckett, his son, William, took charge of the mill. It prospered and the Beckett Paper Company made the paper for the majority of the 122,000,000 McGuffy Readers printed before 1901. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, William Beckett entered into a con tract with the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette to furnish all the printing paper that newspaper required. This was estimated to represent about one-fourth of the capacity of the mill. |
|
|
At the start of the conflict, the circulation of the Commercial Gazette increased greatly and at the same time the cost of rags doubled and tripled until rags finally reached a price of nine and one-half cents per pound, which was the exact price paid for the finished paper.
Efforts were made to secure release from the disastrous contract without success, when the resourcefulness of Adam Laurie conceived the plan of de-inking and pulping old newspapers as basic stock. This proved acceptable to the customer and the Beckett business was kept solvent. The de-inking process used was not perfected as it is today and sometimes a word or two from the old stock would appear in the morning newspaper. This led the proprietor of the Commercial Gazette to write to the Beckett mill that he was glad to get the paper, but preferred to do his own printing.
Thomas Beckett, the real founder of the Beckett of today, came into the business in 1876 at the age of sixteen years. He worked in every department of the mill to familiarize himself with the entire business and resolved to modernize the plant and to seek wider markets. Gradually the management passed into his hands and he proved competent. Before 1890 he had torn down, rebuilt and reequipped the entire establishment.
One of the important contributions of Thomas Beckett was
the creation of Buckeye Cover about the year 1894, Prior to that date S.&
S.C. cover, such as was used on every almanac and railroad circular, was
the only cover available. Working in cooperation with the late James White,
the Chicago paper merchant, Thomas Beckett conceived and developed a line
of color antique cover papers of superior strength and appearance. This
was one of the earliest cover papers and has had many imitators. In its
enlarged and modernized form Buckeye cover papers continue to form the
best known Beckett line.
 |
Until the World Conflict the Beckett Company made immense quantities of writing and bond papers, largely under the private brands of paper merchants. Changing conditions led to the development of a program of proprietary lines covering the principal needs of the printing trade. In the order of their development these lines include Buckeye Text, Beckett Cover, Beckett Text, Beckett Offset, Ohio Cover, Tweed Text, Beckett Brilliant White Opaque. |
|
Top row: Walter McClintock, Andy Schuler, Harvey Sutton, Harry Garver, William Shuler, Roxy Davis, James Harris, Wilson, A.O. Rolfe, Frank Beckett Bottom row: John Hines, George Nenbrook, Jack Quantz |
In addition, many special greeting and announcement lines
are made, together with a variety of envelope and other special papers.
The regular Beckett lines now include cover papers in three grades, text
papers in three grades and offset papers in a great variety of weights,
finishes and colors. The advertising of Beckett papers began about 1908.
| The present officers of the company (1940) are: chairman
of the board, B. R. Millikin; president, M. M. Beckett; vice-president,
Guy H. Beckett; treasurer, William Beckett; secretary, C. R. Greer. These
officers, together with Dan Beckett, Don W. Fitton and Valentine Friedrich,
Jr., constitute the board of directors.
|
 |
|
plaque commemorating the 100th anniversary of Beckett Paper, 1848-1948 |
© 2000 by the Butler County Historical Society