When it was first established under the guise of the Hadley Falls Company, the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts was conceived as a production center for textiles. Despite protests of the company during the formation of the Parsons Paper Company, that a pulp and paper venture was a poor use of space and unprofitable, by 1885 the city was the largest producer of paper goods in the United States.[1] Before 1920 the city was the home to numerous paper mills, producing 80% of the writing paper used in the United States, as well as having the largest silk, and alpaca wool mills in the world.[2][3] The city was also home to the largest paper millwright firm in the United States, D. H. & A. B. Tower, which would design at least 25 such mills in Holyoke alone.[4] While many were lost to fire, redevelopment, and salvaging, today a number of mills have been redeveloped. Despite determinations of eligibility by the Massachusetts Historical Commission as part of the Holyoke Canal System,[5] as of 2025, no mill properties in the city had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[6]
One building alone is 1000 feet longโthe largest silk mill, under one roof, in the world
In 1879 Mr. Ellsworth left the firm of Davis & Ellsworth to become principal assistant and head draftsman for D. H. & A. B. Tower, of Holyoke, who were the largest firm of paper mill architects in the country at that time, and who designed no less than twenty paper mills in the city of Holyoke alone
The Holyoke Canal System National Register district should be expanded to include buildings within The Flats and South Holyoke that relate to the canal and industrial history of the area. The expanded district meets Criteria A and C for listing on the Register and areas of significance include architecture, community planning and development, and industry
The land is needed for the construction of the wall as a part of the work in erection of the new factory now being built by the Farr Alpaca company.
Notice! The Farr Alpaca Co. has leased the store and fixtures to the Fabric Specialty Co... under the management of Miss L. Mittler (former mgr. of Farr Store)
Goetz Silk Company will erect mill on South Canal Street
Ground has been broken for the new mill structure which is to be erected for the Goetz Silk Mfg. Co., Holyoke, Mass. The building which it is expected will be finished in about three months, will be 250 x 50 feet, three stories in height, and will house the entire interests of the concern.
Holyoke, Mass. Plans have been filed for a new mill building to cost approximately $100,000 for the Goetz Silk Manufacturing Co. The building will be a two-story mill adjacent to their plant at Jackson and South Summer streets. The building will have a frontage of 56 feet and will be 147 feet deep. It is to be a throwing mill. Bids have been asked for and contracts will be awarded shortly. Charles T. Main is the mill engineer in charge.
The mill building in Holyoke which early in the year looked as if it would be noticeable by its absence is beginning to come forward and already Contractor Casper Ranger has secured contracts for over $200,000 in this line of building in Holyoke. The new Skinner silk mill, the Goetz silk mill and the new power plant for the Crock division of the American writing paper company...
It was said also on the best of authority that the construction of the new Goetz Silk mill in South Holyoke...will be delayed indefinitely
The firm began on Railroad street, where it increased till last year, when it was compelled to seek new quarters. The firm had just settled in its new mill on Crescent street.
The firm of B. F. Perkins & Co. which bought the Pearl City paper mill at South Hadley a few months ago, has been running since January 1 on Japanese paper napkins. The success of in this line has been so encouraging that a company has been formed under the name of the Japanese tissue mills, to continue this line of manufacture. The new company is capitalized at $27,000 and has a capacity of 200,000 napkins a day, with a force of 8 or 10 men employed. The company will make a specialty of napkins in which the designs are flowers instead of figures, and the coloring is more brilliant and attractive. The company is the first one to be incorporated in the East, most of the companies making this class of goods being located in the West.
Holyoke Die Cut Card Co., 541 Main St., Holyoke
Holyoke Die Cut Card Co. Inc. 439 Dwight St., Holyoke
Reynolds entered business for himself in Holyoke in 1922, purchasing the business of M. J. Losty & Sons, school supplies manufacturers...
From a date earleir than October 12, 1883, to June 18, 1901, James Connor of Holyoke was engaged in the manufacture of woollen cloth and shoddy in two mills in that city known as the New York Mill and the Bigelow Street Mill...Connor continued to use the property as such lessee until his bankruptcy in 1901.
An abandoned five-story once owned by the Whiting Paper Co., burned practically to the ground early this year, causing an estimated $250,000 damage