|
Northern Tissue - The Early Years
 |
"When tissue paper first appeared in lavatories, it was looked upon as a real luxury. But the dull and reactionary individuals in this, as in everything else, had to make way for the more appreciative. And so it came that a short time ago . . . manufacturers with visions of the possibilities of this demand set themselves the task of creating a tissue paper especially adapted for the purpose, and which has taken the name of toilet paper.
[In the manufacture of toilet paper, the sheets] pass over the heated surface of the cylinders of the Fourdrinier Machine [so that] every particle becomes thoroughly sterilized, eliminating all possibility of any germs being carried in the sheets. The continuous sheets come from the machine in Jumbo Rolls of about 50 inch width, which when wound to the desired thickness are removed by huge cranes, eliminating the necessity of the paper being touched to any extent by human hands.
After the Jumbo Rolls come from the papermaking machine, they are carried to a cutting machine, where they are slit. . . . Four perforations are made on the sheet at every revolution of the cylinder. After the . . . machine is started it runs continually until the jumbo roll is run off, taking about 35 minutes. The three shafts on the rewinder are filled with cores and when the counter shows the number of sheets on the core, the rewinder shaft is turned over and the sheet chopped off. . . . This rewinder is a very ingenious device used exclusively by the Northern Paper Mills.
After the rolls are made up in this manner the labels are pasted on by hand, no practical machine having been developed up to this time. . . . Girls [do this work] behind the table and pack them in a case near at hand. The case is then weighed, nailed, and removed to the conveyor, ready for shipment."
Excerpts from Northern Lights (December 1919 & June 1920)
|
|
Fluffy the Northern Cub
Ross Wetzel became the artist for Northern Tissue's ad campaigns in the 1940s, and in doing so, gave us one of the most beloved mascots for Northern Tissue: Fluffy the Northern Cub.
 |
Beginning in 1941, Young and Rubicam, Inc., Northern's advertising agency, began a search for a new artist for its Northern Tissue advertisements. Their search went no further than their Michigan Avenue building in Chicago-the same location as Ross Wetzel's studio. Having worked as an artist for Disney beginning in 1938, Wetzel was deemed to have the approach Young and Rubicam was looking for in its next artist.
 |
Wetzel began his work for Northern Tissue and was no sooner led in an alternate direction. Drafted into World War II, Wetzel was sent to California where his experience with animation at Disney led him to do training films under Ronald Reagan. While his days were preoccupied, Wetzel offered to continue working for Northern during his free time at night. Young and Rubicam had not found a replacement artist and therefore agreed to send the ad layouts to California for Wetzel to do the finished art. Thus began a series of memorable ads with six posters a year, as well as magazine and newspaper advertisements.
 |
 |
After the war, Wetzel came back to Chicago. With TV beginning in several markets, he began a career in TV animation. In 1947 or 1948, Wetzel created one of his first TV commercials-Northern Tissue's first TV commercial. (While TV advertising wasn't fully utilized for Northern products until 1953, key markets such as Chicago saw the ads earlier.) The black and white animated film featured Fluffy the Northern Cub in a tree, telling viewers that not even he was as soft as Northern Tissue.
 |
After approximately eight years, Wetzel created his last caricature for Northern Tissue. The last artifact in the mill archives to be signed with his name dates from approximately 1951. Ross never got to visit the mill and see where the tissue he made famous was produced.
|
1901
March 29th - The mill is founded by the investments of seven men from Green Bay and Milwaukee. Frank H. Suffel, Michael J. McCormick, W.P. Wagner, Iver J. Terp, Elias H. Bottum, Charles Fisher, and Herman Segnetz pool together $70,000 to build Northern Paper Mills at the juncture of the Fox and East Rivers.
|
 |
In its first year, Northern employs 25 men, ships 800 tons of paper, and produces one primary product called Sanitary Tissue. These are packages of 1,000 sheets of tissue, 4x10 inches. Each bundle is pierced with a wire loop so that it can be hung from a nail!
|
 |
1902
April 24th - The name "Northern" is adopted for our bathroom tissue.
|
1904
Begin producing paper for the Sears Catalog on the new Paper Machine #2, a Cylinder Machine.
|
1915
Construction of the Pulp Mill begins. Operations begin on March 15, 1917.
|
1916
The wood yard is opened.
|
1919
An advertising campaign for Northern products is launched in five magazines including the Saturday Evening Post and Literary Digest.
|
1920
Northern Paper Mills emerges as the largest manufacturer of tissue in the world.
 |
The mill's recreation hall with a bowling alley and billiard tables opens in the latter part of March on the third floor of Building 25. |
Latter 1920s
Advertisements focus on sterilization as a selling point for Northern Tissue.
 |
1927
Construct two hydroelectric plants, Chalk Hills and White Rapids, on the Menominee River to provide power for the mill.
 |
1932
The Welfare Club, a forerunner to the Northern Employees Activity Team (N.E.A.T.), is formed.
 |
1934
The ship Inca, known later as the Norco, is chartered to haul pulpwood to the mill from woodlands along Lake Superior.
|
1935
January 19th - The "Northern" name is used on napkins for the first time.
Advertising turns to focus on a common problem for bathroom tissue consumers: the splinter. Northern Tissue is heralded as being a "splinter-free" bathroom tissue
|
1938
The mill sells its hydroelectric plants and constructs a new boiler plant.
|
1942-1943
Engineering Dept. and Machine Shop manufacture war materials for prime contractors of WWII.
|
1938
The mill sells its hydroelectric plants and constructs a new boiler plant.
|
1948
Pulpwood fire destroys half of the 10,000 cords of wood in the yard, amounting to a loss of $200,000.
Fluffy the Northern Cub becomes Northern Tissue's newest salesman.
 |
1951
The Lagniappe Club, later known as the Women's Club, is formed on February 1st.
|
1953
Marathon Corporation of Menasha, Wisconsin, merges with Northern Paper Mills.
|
Northern's Kolorpak Napkins become the Northern line's first colored tissue product. Northern Tissue follows in 1954 and Northern Towels in 1955.
Television advertising begins for Northern products
|
1956
Shipment of Northern Tissue's first multi-packs begins on April 16th with white and assorted-colored bathroom tissue in 3- and 4-roll packs.
|
1957
American Can Company of New York, New York, acquires Marathon Corporation.
 |
1958
Frances Hook's American Beauties begin to appear in Northern Tissue advertisements. On March 23, 1959, the first rolls of tissue featuring the girls are shipped from the mill. The American Beauties, the brand's first "Northern Girls," send tissue sales skyrocketing. Offers for prints of the girls and Northern Towel's All American Boys break records with 30 million sets of prints being sold by 1966.
 |
1962
Aurora Tissue, the first two-tone, two-ply, scented bathroom tissue, is introduced.
|
1963
The mill adds a new clarifier tank and a new screen room with an additional screen.
|
1964
The mill ends its identification as "Northern Paper Mills." Up until this year, the mill is known as "Northern Paper Mills, a Marathon division of American Can Company."
Photographs of children, known as the "Living Dolls," appear on new packages of Northern Tissue.
|
1965
Gala Towel, the first decorator towel, is introduced.
|
1968
Northern Products undergo a "facelift" with the appearance of Saul Bass' trivet design on packages of Northern Tissue, Towels, Facial Tissue, and Napkins.
|
|
|
1974
Northern Tissue's famous "Northern Girls" make their return to the packaging.
October 2nd - The name "Brawny" is first used on our paper towels.
|
November 18th - The first issue of Tissue Talk is published.
|
1975
An addition is made to the mill for the production of Fresh'n Pre-Moistened Toilet Tissue.
Northern Tissue is embossed for the first time.
|
1976
Bay Beach becomes the site of the annual mill picnic.
|
1977
The "A" Process Dry Former, the nation's first commercial airlaid machine, is installed.
Production of Bolt Toweling begins.
|
1979
Construction begins on the Hi-Rise Warehouse. |
|
|
1981
Northern Soft Prints are introduced. |
1982
James River Corporation acquires the Dixie/Northern sector of American Can Company, including the Green Bay Mill.
|
1983
Northern Tissue is sold in the new 6-roll pack form.
The mill's Conference and Training Center opens in the renovated building. |
1984
Northern Tissue goes national by using the manufacturing capacity of the company's facility in Old Town, Maine.
|
1985
The mill begins production of Vanity Fair Napkins with the 2- & 3-ply napkin lines from James River's Groveton, New Hampshire mill.
|
1986
Production of Natural Touch, a disposable baby washcloth, begins at the mill. |
1988
Construction of the Secondary Fiber Plant begins. |
1991
Green Bay becomes the only mill in the James River system to produce the first line of 100% recycled, high-quality, branded products: Recycled Northern Bathroom Tissue, Recycled Brawny Towels, and Recycled Northern Napkins.
 |
1992
The pulp mill ceases operations on December 22nd. |
1993
Northern Tissue becomes "quilted" with the addition of a new emboss pattern. |
1995
Airlaid becomes ISO 9002 certified. |
1996
Quilted Northern Ultra is launched to the public.
The mill's Secondary Fiber Plant is expanded.
|
1997
Quilted Northern Quilters begin demonstrating how Northern Tissue is "Quilted to Absorb."
 |
James River merges with Fort Howard to form Fort James Corporation.
 |
2000
November 27th - Georgia-Pacific Corporation acquires Fort James Corporation.
|
2001
Georgia-Pacific Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer A.D. "Pete" Correll presents the Chairman's Award to employees on February 16th for achieving 500,000 hours without an OSHA recordable incident. Day Street is the first mill in the consumer products' unit to receive the award.
On February 28th, Day Street becomes the first of the former Fort James locations to run a Georgia-Pacific product: Sparkle towels.
 |
In celebration of the mill's 100th Anniversary on March 29th, employees begin a year of celebrations: 100-year anniversary parties with refreshments and commemorative gifts, mill tours, and a 4th of July celebration with the #44 Dodge-Intrepid NASCAR.
 |
2002
"Signs" of Quilted Northern's approaching anniversary begin to appear throughout downtown Green Bay on January 22nd. To celebrate the anniversary and Green Bay's distinction as the "Tissue Capital of the World," banners are placed on lampposts on Main Street from Monroe Avenue to the Nitschke Bridge.
 |
