The origins of papermaking in Middlefield occurred in the early 1800s. A mill was located at the lower end of Factory Brook near the Middlefield railroad station on land in Becket. Its dam was built by John Mann, who originally operated a sawmill at this location. Later he constructed his paper mill. This section of town was called Factory Village; it also bore the name of Bancroft. Many Middlefield people have earned their livelihood from employment at the mill.

In 1838 the Buckley Duncan & Company produced straw paper in their mill at the location of the former John Mann mill. The mill consisted of several wooden buildings. After a fire in 1878 destroyed the factory buildings, they were reconstructed in brick. By 1913 the facility consisted of a main brick building of 75 square feet, the boiler and machine room in a structure measuring 75 feet by 40 feet, and an office with a stock
room occupying another building of about 20 feet by 30 feet. Employment reached twenty-five people as the business grew. Then another tragic fire occurred on May 28, 1913. The first flames were discovered by John Mayette, who worked at the mill as a machine tender. He and other employees attempted to put out the fire with pails of water, but to no avail. Since there was no firefighting equipment, the flames swept through the buildings. Determined to survive the owners undertook the massive task of reconstruction.

Business prospered for many years. By 1945 the mill was called Federated Mills. Their products were toilet and facial tissues bearing the brand name of “Golden Fleece”. National advertising was successful in gaining sales through many of the country’s finest stores. During the 1950s the mill was called Bancroft Tissue Mill. Employment grew to about 39 persons in the labor force.

As the volume of business increased, so did a variety of problems which eventually lead to the demise of Middlefield’s paper industry, Labor unrest developed in 1959. After a long strike and extensive negotions a union contract was signed, allowing the mill to resume its operations. Then the Federal pollution control regulations forced the mill to expend large monies on cleaning up the pollutants of the papermaking process. New and more modern machinery was needed in the plant and the dam required repairs. Under these pressures the ownership of the mill changed hands. Finally the operations were closed down and the mill was left abandoned in about 1975. (History of Middlefield, Cummings)

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