| A CN local bisects the Appvion, historically Appleton Papers, mill, 825 E. Wisconsin Ave. (background), passes the historic Tuttle Press Co. factory, 600 E. Hancock St. (partially visible at right), and crosses N. Lawe St. as it heads southwest via former C&NW rails at Appleton, WI on 25 Aug. '18. Founded as Appleton Coated Paper Co. at Appleton, WI on 13 May 1907. Acquired by the National Cash Register Co. (NCR) in ’70. NCR combined Appleton Coated Paper Co., Combined Locks Paper Co., and Roaring Spring mill (in PA), to form Appleton Papers, Inc. in ’71. NCR sold Appleton Papers to B.A.T Industries (British American Tobacco Co.) in ’78. The company endured an assortment of foreign owners for the next 23 years. Appleton Papers transferred the assets and operations of its coated free sheet business, primarily the former Combined Locks Paper Co. mill, to a new legal entity, Appleton Coated, LLC, in ’00. Appleton Papers employees completed an $810 million buyout of the company on 9 Nov. ‘01. Appleton Papers changed its trade name and logo to Appleton in ’03. Appleton changed its name to Appvion, Inc. on 13 May ’13. It was sold to Franklin Advisers, Inc., et al., on 13 Jun. ’18, and the greedy, corporate scumbags were permitted to cheat the employees out of $40 million in retirement benefits. The Tuttle Press Co. was founded at Elgin, IL, in 1898. They moved to Appleton in 1901, where they built a facility next to the Wisconsin Tissue Paper Co. on John St. They constructed a new facility at N. Union St. and E. Hancock St. in ’05. Over the years the factory grew until it occupied the entire city block, as it does now. A. F. Tuttle, founder and president, invented the first multi-color web printing press for printing tissue paper. The company was purchased by Northern Paper Mills, Green Bay, on 18 Sep. ‘29. Fox Valley Corp., nothing but a vile holding company, purchased it at some point prior to the mid-‘70s. It continued to operate as Tuttle Press Co. until early ‘83, when the holding company merged it with George S. Carrington Co. of Leominster, Mass., to form Artfaire. Fox Valley Corp. moved this facility’s production to one of their other subsidiaries in Tenn. around 1990. The facility then became Sulpaco West, Inc., part of Sullivan Paper Co. in Mass. They shuttered this facility on 27 Jun. ’02, when they moved its production to one of their other facilities in Mass. For about a century the facility produced a variety of renowned specialty papers: napkins, table covers, tissue, craft paper, paper dolls, gift boxes, crepe paper and especially gift wrapping paper. There haven’t been any business signs on the building for several years. The nearest track used to split into several spurs to serve Tuttle Press, Luvata (formerly Valley Cast), Russel Metals, and Appvion, only the latter is an active rail customer. The guard rail at left marks the spot of the former N. Union St. grade crossing. Train was heading back to Neenah after working Appleton, Little Chute and Kaukauna. |