Property Record
425 W WATER ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Atlas Paper Mill Complex |
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| Other Name: | PAPER DISCOVERY CENTER |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 38969 |
| Location (Address): | 425 W WATER ST |
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| County: | Outagamie |
| City: | Appleton |
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| Year Built: | 1888 |
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| Additions: | C. 1900 1908 1920 2005 |
| Survey Date: | 199320132019 |
| Historic Use: | mill |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | Wood Beam |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. Additional map codes are: 30/32-33 FCS10/1 FRV7/2A. F in the photo codes is short for FCS. Additional photo code is: FRV7/2. FCS 10/1 - KIMBERLY-CLARK ATLAS MILL, APPLETON - is a three-story utilitarian industrial building, a shallow-gabled brick rectangle with a stone foundation. Its corbelled sidewall cornices are pierced by projecting rafter ends and terminate as returns for the unbroken, corbelled, raking cornices of the roadside facade. That endwall has nine bays of stone-silled, segmental-arched openings, with paired, paneled wooden doors in the third and second stories flanked by narrower windows. The paired doors in the first story are metal, with flanking windows obscured by added stairs, sheds, and stored equipment. The flush third story of the upstream sidewall has a painted sign at right with the corporate emblem, date of construction, and name of the plant. The bays of openings in the second story are clustered in three groups: four windows at left, a left door and three windows at center, and a right, rear pair of windows. Visible windows in the first story have been infilled with brick or reduced with brick and infilled with glass block. The rear half of the first story is obscured by subsequent construction that supports an array of metal smokestacks. OAHP INVENTORY: In 1878 the four founders of Kimberly-Clark and three Minnesota businessmen started the Atlas Paper Company and built a mill on the site of the former Whorton Brothers Saw Mill in Appleton. During the next 50 years 3 more mills were built. None of these mills remain today. The original mill burnt down in 1888 and was rebuilt 5 months later. In 1907 the Atlas Paper Company was sold outright to Kimberly-Clark. In the beginning Atlas was "the largest establishment of the kind in the west and there was none in the whole country having a greater capacity...involving an outlay of $125,000..." Its first product was jute and wood manila paper; then came printing papers, bond papers, fancy manila wrapping papers, black photo albumpaper, "poison fly paper," box cover papers, and colored kindergarten papers. Atlas also had the first sulfite pulp mill west of Pennsylvania. In 1920, a wallpaper converting was started at Atlas, and for more than 30 years following 1930, Atlas was the national leader in decorator wallpapers. It had the first rotogravure press for printing wallpaper and the first paper mill. During and after WWII, wallpaper lost its national importance, and the Atlas Mill started up the scrim reinforced material base machine (1956) and Flexographic printing (1961) to take its place. Fox River Valley Industrial Survey In 1878, the four founders of Kimberly-Clark expanded their paper milling business into Appleton with the construction of the Atlas Paper Mill, located at 425 West Water Street. During the following five years, two more smaller paper mills were constructed adjacent to the Atlas Mill: the Tioga and Vulcan mills. In 1888, the mill burnt down and was reconstructed the same year. The new mill was the largest in the state at the time with a $125,000 investment and a 500-horsepower mill with three paper-making machines. The mill produced a wide range of products; however, most were common bond papers and heavy manila paper. The mill also introduced the first sulfite pulp mill process west of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s. By 1900, the mill had grown with brick additions on the north side of the mill facing a non-extant rail line, and a tail race of the river was directed under the mill itself. The adjoining Vulcan power plant was constructed by Kimberly-Clark in 1908 on the site of the Tioga and Vulcan Mills. The power plant generated electric power for the Kimberly-Clark’s industrial sites along the Fox River in Appleton. The three-story gabled brick building has a number of historic additions including a long single-story wing to the east that was constructed in 1919. In 1920, the Atlas Paper Mill was converted to produce wallpaper, and, for the following thirty years, the mill was a national leader in decorative wallpaper production and had the first rotogravure press for printing wallpaper in a paper mill in the country. During and after World War II, wallpaper declined in popularity, and the mill began returning to printed paper manufacturing and installed a Flexographic printing press in 1961. In 1999, Kimberly-Clark donated the site to the Paper Industry Hall of Fame. A 52,000 square foot renovation, completed in 2005 by Stadtmueller and Associates, significantly altered the building. The Atlas Paper Mill building is now the Paper Discovery Center museum, and the Vulcan Power Plant is Fratellos Riverfront Restaurant. However, both buildings of the Atlas Paper Mill Complex retain their architectural integrity through their exterior appearance. The Atlas Paper Mill Complex is significant under Criterion A: History in the area of Industry for its role in the Appleton paper industry. The period of significance for the property would extend from 1888 to circa 1970. The proposed complex is situated near the center of the City of Appleton and has boundaries roughly delineated by West Water Street and the Fox River. The complex began during the 1880s and was developed largely over the next half-century as a significant paper mill. The proposed complex consists of a portion of the legal parcels at 425 West Water Street and 501 West Water Street associated with the contributing resources of the complex. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Sign. Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids Sunday Central Wisconsin "Historic Appleton mill to house paper museum, hall of fame." 3/21/2004. “Architecture/History Survey: Replace Prospect Ave. Bridge Over Jackman St. & Realign Jackman St.” WHS project number 13-0343/OU. November 2011; February 2013. Prepared by Elizabeth Miller. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |