Sun and clouds mixed. High around 85F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..
Partly cloudy skies. Low around 65F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
In its heyday before the 1891 fire, the paper mill at Aroma provided jobs for about two dozen men and boys. The workforce gathered for this photo in probably the 1880s.
The Kankakee Paper Mill opened in 1873 at the south end of the Kankakee Dam (in this early 1900s view, the dam has disappeared under floodwaters). The paper mill was replaced by an electrical generating station.
The Aroma Paper Mill (also referred to as the Waldron Paper Mill) is shown across the flooded Kankakee River in 1913, The iron bridge visible at right has since been replaced by a concrete span. READ MORE.
This 1901 “aerial view” drawing shows the cluster of mills and other buildings on the “island” at Aroma Park. The paper mill is located to the left of the “iron wagon bridge” crossing the river. The grist (flour) mill, wagon shop, and grain elevator are located nearby.
In its heyday before the 1891 fire, the paper mill at Aroma provided jobs for about two dozen men and boys. The workforce gathered for this photo in probably the 1880s.
The Kankakee Paper Mill opened in 1873 at the south end of the Kankakee Dam (in this early 1900s view, the dam has disappeared under floodwaters). The paper mill was replaced by an electrical generating station.
The Aroma Paper Mill (also referred to as the Waldron Paper Mill) is shown across the flooded Kankakee River in 1913, The iron bridge visible at right has since been replaced by a concrete span. READ MORE.
This 1901 “aerial view” drawing shows the cluster of mills and other buildings on the “island” at Aroma Park. The paper mill is located to the left of the “iron wagon bridge” crossing the river. The grist (flour) mill, wagon shop, and grain elevator are located nearby.
In an ancient German fairy tale, an imp named Rumpelstiltskin had the ability to spin straw into gold.
In the mid-1800s, the operators of two water-powered mills along the Kankakee River also used straw as raw material, but their final product was paper, rather than gold. The older of the two mills, located at Aroma (now Aroma Park), went into production in 1865. The other, located in a substantial stone building at the south end of the dam at Kankakee, opened in 1873.
Both mills manufactured two types of materials used in packaging: wrapping paper and a thicker, rigid sheet (similar to today’s cardboard) called strawboard. The papermaking process uses a pulp formed by mixing ground-up fiber (in this case, straw; later, wood) with water. The pulp is then fed onto a moving metal screen, which allows much of the water to drain away. Next, the material passes between rollers which squeeze out most of the remaining water. Additional rollers adjust the thickness of the product (paper or board). After passing through the drying section of the papermaking machine, the paper is wound into large rolls, while boards are cut to the desired size.
Interestingly, straw also was the raw material for a different type of product made by a Kankakee factory in the 1860s. While paper mills used wheat, oat, or barley straw, the Home Flax Company converted straw from the flax plant into thread and linen cloth. The company’s mill was located on the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and River Street.
The Aroma Paper Mill was part of an early “industrial park” on a man-made island on the north side of the Kankakee River. The island had been formed in the mid-1850s , when a millrace was excavated to provide waterpower to the E.R. Beardsley flour mill. In addition to the flour and paper mills, the island was home to a grain elevator, a sawmill, and a wagon-building shop.
Disaster struck the Aroma Paper Mill (then known as the Waldron Paper Mill) on the evening of September 26, 1891. “The paper mill...took fire between 6 and 7 o’clock Saturday evening in the engine room, and was totally destroyed,” reported the Kankakee Gazette. “The fire is reported to have caught from the torch carried by the boy who was oiling the machinery, while the hands were at supper. The total loss is $30,000. ... The fire [also] destroyed eight carloads of coal, five empty boxcars belonging to the Big Four, and about a carload of wrapping paper.”
“The machinery was in good condition and of improved pattern,” continued the Gazette report. “A year ago, the company was offered $24,000 for the mill by the paper trust, but declined to sell at that figure. Lately, the mill has been operated somewhat irregularly, owing, it is said, to dissensions among the stockholders. It is also reported that the mill has not made any money during the past two years, but the outlook this fall was encouraging, and the owners were looking forward to a more prosperous season.”
The newspaper noted, “... the paper mill has been a very important industry in that section. Besides the $5,000 annually paid out to the farmers for straw, the weekly payroll amounted to $200. It is not likely that the mill will be rebuilt.” (The mill actually was rebuilt. It began producing paper and strawboard again in September, 1893.)
At the time of the fire, the Waldron mill was owned by a group consisting of three men from Cincinnati, Ohio, and a local resident, George Blake. They purchased it from Kankakee businessman William G. Swannell, who had owned it for a number of years. Although several sources state that the mill opened in 1865, the Gazette article stated that it was “established in 1870 by Geo. W. Moseley for the manufacture of straw board. In 1872, John Maxwell came into the business and the wrapping paper mill was started.”
Only two weeks after the paper mill burned, another local industry suffered a major fire loss. The Crystal Ice Company’s large icehouse (storage building for ice cut from the river the preceding winter) was totally consumed by flames. The building stood on the north bank of the river, a short distance upstream from the Big Four Railroad bridge. The fire was reported by the bridge watchman at about 3 a.m.
“The house was owned by Lafayette parties,” reported the Gazette, “and was the last of the two erected fifteen years ago. The other was burned a year ago, at about the same hour of the night. There was no doubt that both houses were set on fire, but by whom with what object in view, no one can say. The present house employed three men permanently, and during the ice harvest, over 100.”
Today, there are no visible signs of the icehouse or either of the paper mills. The Crystal Ice Company’s site is now a residential neighborhood, while the Kankakee Paper Mill has been replaced by an electrical generating station. The island where the Waldron Paper Mill once stood is no longer an island — the millrace was filled in many years ago; two parks, a residence, and a fire station have replaced the industrial buildings that stood there for many years.
Jack Klasey is a former Journal reporter and a retired publishing executive. He can be contacted through the Daily Journal at editors@daily-journal.com or directly at jwklasey@comcast.net.
E.R. Beardsley, who built the dam upstream of Aroma Park to power his flour mill, also ran a dam-related transportation business. What was it?
Answer: A stern-wheel flatboat powered by two horses walking on a treadmill. River shipments of grain and other products from Momence couldn't pass the dam; they were transferred to Beardsley's "two horsepower" stern-wheeler for delivery to Kankakee for railroad shipment.
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