Hugh J. Chisholm
Encyclopedia
Hugh Joseph Chisholm was a Canadian industrialist who later became a citizen of the United States
. He was born in Niagara-on-the-Lake
, Ontario
, to parents of Scottish ancestry
. His early years as an entrepreneur
in the news distribution business provided a foundation for his later accomplishments in the pulp and paper industry
. His founding and leadership of pulp and paper, fibre-ware, and light and power companies as well as banks and railways made him a dominant figure in Maine
industry. His legacy went beyond his reputation as a capitalist, however; he created the first forest management
program for International Paper Company and developed a planned community
for the workers in his mills which was a model for the nation.
and Mary Margaret Phelan of Niagara-on-the-Lake
in Ontario
, Canada
. He attended school there until he was thirteen, when his father’s death made it necessary for him to leave school to help support the family. In Toronto
, he found employment as a newsboy
distributing newspapers to passengers on the Grand Trunk Railway
and the steamboat
s, where he made friends with Thomas Edison
, who was a newsboy on a nearby line.
An entrepreneur from an early age, Chisholm soon began buying his own copies of the papers, rather than selling them as an agent for another company. As his earnings grew, he was able to attend business classes at the Commercial College of Bryant and Stratton
. In 1861, his brother joined him and formed the Chisholm Brothers, which distributed papers over much of Canada and the Northeastern United States
. By the time he was sixteen, he was able to buy out his former employer, hiring over two hundred newsboys to sell papers, magazines and books to railway and steamboat customers. This company developed into Chisholm Brothers Publishing in Portland, Maine
, and is still run by Colin A.J. Chisholm III.
With his knowledge of what customers were reading, Chisholm Brothers began printing travel guides and founded a lithograph company in Portland, Maine
, moving to half-tone
photographs and then eventually, in 1888, to picture postcard
s. Chisholm became a U.S. citizen
and moved to Portland in the mid-1870s.
After a foray into patenting and manufacturing fibre-ware products, Chisholm became interested in paper and pulp, and, with other capitalists whom he interested in his projects, started several pulp and paper companies in western Maine, including the Umbagog Pulp Company; Otis Falls Pulp and Paper Co.; Rumford Falls Paper Company, Somerset Fibre Company the Oxford Paper Company, the Rumford Falls Sulfite Company; the Continental Bag Company and, with two associates, the International Paper Company. The Otis Falls Pulp Company mill in Jay
, built in 1888, was then the third largest paper mill
in the country. The Oxford Paper Company’s mill in Rumford began producing paper in 1901, and subsequently produced all postcards for the United States Post Office. This mill became the largest bookpaper mill in the world under one roof, and has operated continuously since that time under several different companies. Chisholm was the first president from 1898 to 1907 of International Paper Company, which brought together 30 pulp and paper mills from across US and Canada. He initiated the first forest management program for that company and developed a close relationship with the Yale University School of Forestry.
Chisholm’s entrepreneurial interests also included founding and leading the Livermore Falls
Iron Foundry; Rumford Falls Power Company; Portland and Rumford Falls Railway, and the Rumford Falls and Rangeley Lakes Railroad.
, acquired considerable land around Pennacook Falls on the Androscoggin River
in Maine, where they planned the town of Rumford Falls. It grew up around the mills very much in accord with their plans. Chisholm had a particular interest in providing comfortable housing for the many mill workers who were attracted by employment from Europe
, Canada, and other parts of the United States, and to that end researched mill housing initiatives at that time. He was aware of the slum
s and stacked tenement
s near mills in Manchester, New Hampshire
and Lawrence
and Lowell, Massachusetts
, and became convinced that satisfactory comfort and amenities were both practical and enlightened. He established the Rumford Realty Company and began construction of one of the first planned communities in Maine, and a model for the nation. The large brick and slate duplex
houses with manicured lawns were to be arranged around treed parks. Named after his ancestral home in Scotland
and designed and built by architect Cass Gilbert
, Strathglass Park in Rumford provided housing for many mill workers.
His interest in developing a community in which people would want to live extended to other aspects of the town as well. In 1911, he founded the Rumford Mechanics Institute, a social and recreational center for residents which was partially supported through membership dues.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was born in Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a Canadian town located in Southern Ontario where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region of the southern part of the province of Ontario. It is located across the Niagara river from Youngstown, New York, USA...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, to parents of Scottish ancestry
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
. His early years as an entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
in the news distribution business provided a foundation for his later accomplishments in the pulp and paper industry
Pulp and paper industry
The global pulp and paper industry is dominated by North American , northern European and East Asian countries...
. His founding and leadership of pulp and paper, fibre-ware, and light and power companies as well as banks and railways made him a dominant figure in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
industry. His legacy went beyond his reputation as a capitalist, however; he created the first forest management
Forest management
200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...
program for International Paper Company and developed a planned community
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
for the workers in his mills which was a model for the nation.
Early life
Hugh J. Chisholm was the fifth of ten children of Alexander ChisholmAlexander Chisholm
Alexander Chisholm was a political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Scotland in 1790 and migrated to Glengarry County in 1817. In 1825, he became a colonel in the local militia. He represented the county in the 12th and 13th Parliaments. He died at Alexandria in 1854.- External links :*...
and Mary Margaret Phelan of Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a Canadian town located in Southern Ontario where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region of the southern part of the province of Ontario. It is located across the Niagara river from Youngstown, New York, USA...
in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He attended school there until he was thirteen, when his father’s death made it necessary for him to leave school to help support the family. In Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, he found employment as a newsboy
Paperboy
A paperboy is the general name for a person employed by a newspaper, They are often used around the office to run low end errands. They make copies and distribute them. Paperboys traditionally were and are still often portrayed on television and movies as preteen boys, often on a bicycle...
distributing newspapers to passengers on the Grand Trunk Railway
Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...
and the steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s, where he made friends with Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
, who was a newsboy on a nearby line.
An entrepreneur from an early age, Chisholm soon began buying his own copies of the papers, rather than selling them as an agent for another company. As his earnings grew, he was able to attend business classes at the Commercial College of Bryant and Stratton
Bryant and Stratton
Bryant & Stratton College is a for-profit college with campuses in New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Founded in 1854, the college offers two-year programs at all campuses and four-year programs at select campuses. This school began as a business institute, but now is an accredited...
. In 1861, his brother joined him and formed the Chisholm Brothers, which distributed papers over much of Canada and the Northeastern United States
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
. By the time he was sixteen, he was able to buy out his former employer, hiring over two hundred newsboys to sell papers, magazines and books to railway and steamboat customers. This company developed into Chisholm Brothers Publishing in Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, and is still run by Colin A.J. Chisholm III.
Industrialist and entrepreneur
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, moving to half-tone
Halftone
Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size, in shape or in spacing...
photographs and then eventually, in 1888, to picture postcard
Postcard
A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
s. Chisholm became a U.S. citizen
United States nationality law
Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. The Immigration and Naturalization Act sets forth the legal requirements for the acquisition of, and divestiture from, citizenship of...
and moved to Portland in the mid-1870s.
After a foray into patenting and manufacturing fibre-ware products, Chisholm became interested in paper and pulp, and, with other capitalists whom he interested in his projects, started several pulp and paper companies in western Maine, including the Umbagog Pulp Company; Otis Falls Pulp and Paper Co.; Rumford Falls Paper Company, Somerset Fibre Company the Oxford Paper Company, the Rumford Falls Sulfite Company; the Continental Bag Company and, with two associates, the International Paper Company. The Otis Falls Pulp Company mill in Jay
Jay, Maine
Jay is a town in Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,985 at the 2000 census. Jay, which includes the village of Chisholm, is the regional commercial center.-History:...
, built in 1888, was then the third largest paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
in the country. The Oxford Paper Company’s mill in Rumford began producing paper in 1901, and subsequently produced all postcards for the United States Post Office. This mill became the largest bookpaper mill in the world under one roof, and has operated continuously since that time under several different companies. Chisholm was the first president from 1898 to 1907 of International Paper Company, which brought together 30 pulp and paper mills from across US and Canada. He initiated the first forest management program for that company and developed a close relationship with the Yale University School of Forestry.
Chisholm’s entrepreneurial interests also included founding and leading the Livermore Falls
Livermore Falls, Maine
Livermore Falls is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,227 at the 2000 census. It is included in both the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan New England City and Town Area...
Iron Foundry; Rumford Falls Power Company; Portland and Rumford Falls Railway, and the Rumford Falls and Rangeley Lakes Railroad.
Community builder and philanthropist
Chisholm, with George N. Fletcher of Detroit and Charles D. Brown of BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, acquired considerable land around Pennacook Falls on the Androscoggin River
Androscoggin River
The Androscoggin River is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is long and joins the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine before its water empties into the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin is in area...
in Maine, where they planned the town of Rumford Falls. It grew up around the mills very much in accord with their plans. Chisholm had a particular interest in providing comfortable housing for the many mill workers who were attracted by employment from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Canada, and other parts of the United States, and to that end researched mill housing initiatives at that time. He was aware of the slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s and stacked tenement
Tenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
s near mills in Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
and Lawrence
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States on the Merrimack River. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 76,377. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the southeast. It and Salem are...
and Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 106,519. It is the fourth largest city in the state. Lowell and Cambridge are the county seats of Middlesex County...
, and became convinced that satisfactory comfort and amenities were both practical and enlightened. He established the Rumford Realty Company and began construction of one of the first planned communities in Maine, and a model for the nation. The large brick and slate duplex
Duplex (building)
The term duplex can be used to describe several different dwelling unit configurations:A duplex house is defined as a dwelling having apartments with separate entrances for two families. This includes two-story houses having a complete apartment on each floor and also side-by-side apartments on a...
houses with manicured lawns were to be arranged around treed parks. Named after his ancestral home in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and designed and built by architect Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert
- Historical impact :Gilbert is considered a skyscraper pioneer; when designing the Woolworth Building he moved into unproven ground — though he certainly was aware of the ground-breaking work done by Chicago architects on skyscrapers and once discussed merging firms with the legendary Daniel...
, Strathglass Park in Rumford provided housing for many mill workers.
His interest in developing a community in which people would want to live extended to other aspects of the town as well. In 1911, he founded the Rumford Mechanics Institute, a social and recreational center for residents which was partially supported through membership dues.
Personal life
On September 5, 1872, he married Henrietta Mason, of Portland, and they had one son, Hugh Chisholm, Jr. Chisholm’s son and then his grandson, William Chisholm, were subsequent presidents of the Oxford Paper Mill. Chisholm died in 1912 in his home at 813 Fifth Avenue, New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.