Lincoln, Maine

The Mill Through Time

The mill has manufactured different types of pulp, paper, and tissue over the years. It has changed names and owners numerous times, as well. Here is a look at some of the changes through its existence.

Major Events, Mill Timeline (from Lincoln Historical Society and http://www.lptandt.com)

August 11, 1882: Lincoln Pulp & Paper Company is organized. Construction is finished that year and a crude paper machine is installed.

1888: Operations were halted for five years due to the distance of the timber to market. The mill could not compete with the growing number of mills in the state.

1893: New owners N.M. Jones and James B. Mullen expand the mill and operations to include sulfite pulp, a much better kind of pulp. The name is changed to Katahdin Pulp & Paper Company. The business continues successfully for twenty years.

October 1914: The mill is purchased by Eastern Manufacturing Company of Brewer. The name is changed to the Katahdin Division of Eastern Manufacturing Company. The mill employs 250 people at this time. More expansion and improvements continue over the next fifty years.

1958: Eastern Manufacturing merges with Standard Packaging Corporation, becoming Eastern Fine Paper & Pulp Division, Standard Packaging Corporation.

1964: Tissue production is introduced as a lucrative new undertaking for the mill.

March 8, 1968: Eastern Fine’s Lincoln and Brewer mills close unexpectedly when the costs of running the mill outweigh the benefits for the Standard Packaging Corporation. The closure of these two mills left over 1,150 out of work.

June 24, 1968: The people of Lincoln rallied together and independently raised $350,000 to secure financing to re-open the mill.

August 1968: Standard Packaging transfers ownership to the Premoid Corporation (now Preco), which renames the mill Lincoln Pulp & Paper. It began to specialize in deep-dyed tissue, a specialty in the tissue market.

January 2004: Lincoln Pulp and Paper and Eastern Fine Paper in Brewer shut down due to financial troubles of the parent company, Eastern Pulp & Paper Corp.

May 28, 2004: The mill is purchased by a small group for $23.7 million, who change the name to Lincoln Paper & Tissue LLC.

August 28, 2006: A new 21st century tissue machine is installed, a huge investment for the mill.

April 8, 2010: According to LP & T’s website, “Lincoln Paper and Tissue, LLC, is the USA's leading producer of specialty and deep dyed tissue products and high bulk printing papers. The Company operates a fully integrated pulp and paper facility with three tissue machines and two paper machines in Lincoln, Maine.”