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The Allied Paper Corporation was created in 1921 by a merger of three paper mills in Kalamazoo and Otsego, both in South-West Michigan, USA. The company grew steadily over the next 40 years but when local forests had been logged off and when profits could no longer support further investments and updates it became uncompetitive. Allied mills were closed or sold during the 1970s and 1980s, and the corporation passed into history during 1988. Hundreds of millions of dollars have since been spent in South West Michigan cleaning up the last Allied Paper mill site and the PCB pollution caused by this company. ==Allied Paper Mills== Allied Paper Mills was incorporated in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA during 1921 when three local paper companies merged. These were the Monarch Paper Company in Kalamazoo, the King Paper Company in Kalamazoo and the Bardeen Paper Company in Otsego. The combined output of 10 paper machines and 34 coating machines immediately placed the Allied Paper Mills in the top producers of book paper in the nation. When operating at full speed and full capacity it was expected that between 1200 and 1800 people would be given employment. A. L. Pratt was selected as company President, and A. G. Gilman and George H. Gerpheide were the vice presidents. George B. Davis was the secretary and S. B. Monroe the treasurer.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 8 November 1921〕 The new corporation was capitalized at 5,000,000 preferred shares and 5,000,000 shares of no-par value common stock.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 8 December 1921〕 By 1925 the Allied Paper Mills employed 1500 people and had produced 2,725 railroad car loads of paper in that year. It was stated by vice-president Alex G. Gilman that the various divisions were in splendid physical condition. Improvements in 1924 included a new boiler house at the Bardeen Mill and rebuilding of paper machines in both the Bardeen and King Mills. The no-par stock was changed to a par value of $10 and 400,000 shares were issued in 1924.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 18 October 1925〕 In January 1931, Alex G. Gilman, now president, reported at the annual stockholders meeting that Allied Paper Mills had been profitable in 1930 and noted that the outlook in 1931 was more favorable.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 29 January 1934〕 Alas, 1931 and 1932 turned out to be difficult years and the company did not make any profits. In January 1934 President Gilman was able to report that profits of $25,000 had been made during 1933. At this time Frederick C. Fisher and John A. Pyl were the vice presidents, S. B. Monroe was still the treasurer.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 24 January 1934〕 In 1933 the larger of the two mills in Otsego (former Bardeen No 1) was sold to the Menasha Corporation.〔Menasha website www.menasha.com〕 On 2 September 1955 it was announced that the Allied Paper Mills board had approved a plan to be acquired by the Thor Corporation, a maker of household appliances. A special shareholders meeting was called for 3 October so they could vote on this plan, which offered $46 per share of common stock. At this time, Allied was the fifth largest employer in Kalamazoo County, Michigan and had made a net profit of $1,367, 410 in 1954. No executive changes were planned by Thor.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 2 September 1955〕 The shareholders approved the plan and on 2 December 1955 Arnold H. Maremont, president of Thor Corporation announced the transaction was complete. D. R. Curtenius, who had been the president of the Allied Paper Mills, was retained in a consulting capacity by the new paper-making division of Thor.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 29 February 1956〕 In February 1956 it was announced that the coating mill in Otsego would be closed and in June 1956 the Bryant Mill in Kalamazoo was leased for ten years from the St Regis Paper Company with an option to buy. This large and successful Kalamazoo mill dated back to 1895. It had been acquired by Time Inc. of New York (the publishers of magazines Time and Life) in 1945. They invested heavily, including construction of a new research building on Alcott Street in Kalamazoo, but sold the Bryant Mill to the St. Regis Paper Company in 1946. Since this mill produced coated and uncoated book papers it was considered to be a good fit within Allied Paper.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 25 June 1956〕 In late 1956 the Thor Corporation renamed itself the Allied Paper Corporation with Arnold H. Maremont remaining as president. That same year the APW Products paper mill in Albany, New York was purchased, which added light weight groundwood paper as a product line for the corporation. Allied was now the eighth largest paper producer in the USA.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 21 November 1956〕 President Arnold Maremont declared in January 1957 that it was possible the company could double its size within a year and intimated that other paper companies could be acquired.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 18 January 1957〕 By 1958 the corporation was specializing in three areas of production: book papers, business papers and school supply papers. The Allied book paper lines then included grades from the thinnest bible paper to heavy book paper for novels. Business papers include forms, mimeo, duplication and offset for reproduction machines, bond, carbon insets and special coated papers for electrostatic office copiers. School supply papers include notebook filler, construction and drawing paper, pads, envelopes and reproduction and typing papers. Also in early 1957 Allied announced they would build a large new pulp mill on the north side of Cork St in Kalamazoo but this addition never occurred.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 18 January 1957〕 Bryant Mills A and B continued to be used to de-ink waste paper for use as stock in the Kalamazoo paper mills. This use of recycled paper would cause huge problems for the corporation in future years. Included in the recycled paper was carbonless copy paper manufactured by the National Cash Register (NCR) Company and this paper contained toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 23 May 1963〕 In October 1958 Dr. Ward D. Harrison was named Allied Paper Corporation president. Losses in 1957 and 1958 were replaced by a profit of $670,000 in 1959. Allied was now the third largest employer in Kalamazoo behind the KVP Sutherland Paper and Upjohn companies. At this time the Allied Paper Corporation also owned Phillips Control Corp, specializing in electronic components, and Max Eckhardt and Sons Ornament Corporation, makers of Christmas decorations.〔Kalamazoo Gazette, 9 March 1960〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Allied Paper Corporation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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