American Paper Goods Company (1893)

In 1893, the Ajax Envelope Company of New York City and the Howard Manufacturing Company of Jersey City formed the American Paper Goods Company and moved their operations to Kensington in Berlin, where they secured water rights on the Mattabessett River. The company erected a dam, which survives today, and created Paper Goods Pond, now a town park. The surviving factory and office building was erected in 1893. Its west end (pictured above) has a curving rounded shape. Extending to the east along Main Street are factory additions built in 1900, 1903 and 1914. The company produced waxed paper bags for tobacco and seeds and envelopes for medicine and photographs, later also making paper cups. Continental Can Company bought the factory in 1954 and closed it five years later.

In 1959, Sherwood Industries, known as the Sherri Cup Company, purchased the property. Sherri continued to manufacture paper cups and also made machine tools for the paper industry. Millions of the iconic Anthora paper cups, created in 1963 and displaying the words “We Are Happy to Serve You” were produced in the building. The company was absorbed by the Solo Cup Company and the factory closed in 2004. The former factory building has since been converted into condominiums and is called the Lofts at Sherwood Falls.