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Private company

Allied Paper Corporation

Logo: Jmwinkwo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

American paper company

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 1988.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1921Founded1

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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.2

Acquisitions

In 1967 the Allied Paper Corporation was purchased by the Smith Corona Marchant (SCM) Corporation for $33 million and became the paper-making division of that entity. The transaction was completed on 20 December of that year. SCM shares were issued in place of Allied shares, which were valued at $24.25 a share. The new paper-making division was named SCM Allied Paper. Ernest Klimczak continued as president for paper making and all other Allied Paper Corporation officers were retained. Dr. Ward Harrison became an SCM vice president. At this time, SCM Allied Paper employed 1,300 people in its Kalamazoo mills and was the second largest employer in the City of Kalamazoo behind the Brown Company, another paper maker. Total Allied employment in the United States was 2,880 people.

SCM invested in their new papermaking operation, including installation of the first vertical papermaking machine in the U.S. during 1969. It was stated by Dr Ward Harrison that this machine represented the first basic technology increase since the Fourdrinier horizontal-forming paper machine was introduced almost 170 years ago. Paper could be made on this machine more economically and with better physical characteristics.

During the first half of the 1970s, SCM Allied Paper was the market leader in the lightweight paper field, used exclusively in bibles. Investments made in the 1960s were paying off handsomely. Also paying off was that Allied owned the entire manufacturing process, since it had pulp mills, paper mills and converting operations which produced forms and other final paper products. A new 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) headquarters building for the papermaking division of SCM was constructed on Portage Road in Kalamazoo during 1974 and 1975. However, new and larger mills located in the Southern U.S. and Canadian forests were making the Allied mills in Kalamazoo uncompetitive. The King Mill had closed in 1970 and the Monarch Mill closed in 1981, leaving just the Bryant Mill operating in Kalamazoo plus the pulp and paper mills in Jackson, Alabama. Also in 1981 the paper coating operation in Bryant Mill E was shut down.

From Wikipedia’s article on Allied Paper Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1921Founded Founded1

Sources

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