LIVERMORE FALLS ADVERTISER • March 3, 2026
Hugh J. Chisholm rose from selling newspapers as a boy to building paper mills, railroads and industrial communities that helped supply the newsprint and postal cards used across the United States, tying western Maine directly to the nation’s communications network. Chisholm expanded into paper manufacturing in 1888 when he founded the Otis Falls Pulp and Paper Company in Livermore Falls. Located along the Androscoggin River, the mill used water power, regional timber and rail access to produce newsprint, the primary paper used by newspapers across the country. His operations later became part of International Paper Company, formed in 1898 through the consolidation of major paper manufacturers. In 1903, the Oxford Paper Company mill in Rumford secured a federal contract to manufacture postal cards for the U.S. Post Office, producing them at a rate of millions per day. Chisholm also helped develop the transportation infrastructure needed to support large-scale paper production.