In the early decades of the 20th century Sugarland Industries operated a paper mill in a building at the intersection of Main and Kempner Streets. I think it's more accurate to say the Sugar Land Manufacturing Company (a subsidiary of the Industries) ran the enterprise.
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| An undated photo of the Sugarland Industries paper mill. |
I've found these early newspaper articles which indicate the operation actually began under E. H. Cunningham's ownership of Sugar Land. You'll also notice that the operation was the first of it's kind in the US; i.e., it was the first to make paper out of refuse from milling sugar cane. Eventually, W. T. Eldridge, Sr. added a printing function, which produced books, bags, and a weekly newspaper, among other items.
The following newspaper articles come from The Portal to Texas History Web site
at the University of North Texas. I've clipped the images to make them
easier to find and read, but I've also included links in case you want
to see the complete pages.
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| The Brownsville Daily Herald, May 13, 1897. ('Trail' should read 'trial,' I think.) Link to full page. |
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| The McKinney Democrat, April 22, 1897. (The date makes this seem a little fishy.) Link to full page. |
