| HOME | ASK HARRY |
Q.1054: When was the first Paper Mill started in US?
Ans. The first paper mill in America was established in 1690 near Philadelphia.
In 1690 on the banks of the Monoshone Creek near Germantown, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, William Rittenhouse founded the first paper mill in the United States. Rittenhouse was born in Germany in 1644 near the city of Mulheim on the river Ruhr, his papermaking skills being mainly obtained in Holland.
The yearly output of the Rittenhouse mill amounted to 1200 reams of paper.
The original mill, built in 1690, was entirely destroyed by a spring freshet in 1701. The following year a new mill was constructed only later to be destroyed by fire. A third mill was built which stood until the late 1800's.
From http://www.conservatree.org/learn/Essential%20Issues/EIPaperContent.shtml
The first paper mill in North America was built by the Spanish in Mexico City in 1575. The first paper mill in what became the United States, built by Dutch papermaker William Rittenhouse, was constructed in 1690 near Philadelphia and used rags to produce paper.