ESCANABA - Beginning Monday, NewPage will begin celebrating the 100th anniversary of the local paper mill with a variety of activities throughout the month of July, announced Escanaba's mayor during Thursday's council meeting.
Mayor Leo Evans proclaimed Thursday as "100 Years of Pulp Production" in recognition of the first pulp being produced by the original Escanaba Pulp and Paper Company a century ago on July 5, 1912.
The Escanaba Pulp and Paper Company began construction on a pulpmill and the No. 2 dam in 1911, according to the city's proclamation. The first pulp was produced by the company's stone groundwood mill the following year.
"Today, the Escanaba mill produces daily almost 1,200 tons of pulp in the kraft mill and more than 200 tons daily in the refiner mechanical pulp mill," stated Evans. He encouraged the citizens of Escanaba "to reflect on and celebrate 100 years of pulp production at the Escanaba paper mill."