Mead Paper and the Industrial Heart of Southern Ohio

The Mead Paper Company’s Chillicothe Works was one of Ohio’s largest paper mills, symbolizing over a century of industrial progress in Ohio.

The Mead Paper Company’s Chillicothe Works was one of Ohio’s largest and longest-operating paper mills, symbolizing over a century of industrial progress in southern Ohio’s Scioto Valley.

The site’s papermaking roots stretched back to the early 1800s, when Quaker brothers Hezekiah and Isaiah Ingham established one of the region’s first mills along Kinnikinnick Creek. Colonel Daniel E. Mead purchased the Ingham Mills operation in 1890, marking the beginning of the Mead Paper Company’s legacy in Chillicothe. Under his successors, the facility grew rapidly, with new paper machines, offices, and bleaching plants defining the first half of the twentieth century.

By the mid-1900s, the Chillicothe Works had become a cornerstone of Ohio’s economy, employing thousands and incorporating cutting-edge research and development facilities. Its private rail network and extensive industrial footprint made it a self-sustaining complex, emblematic of the state’s papermaking heritage.

After decades of steady operation, the Mead Corporation merged with Westvaco in 2002 to form MeadWestvaco. In 2005, the Chillicothe mill was sold to private-equity investors, reflecting a broader shift in American manufacturing. Private-equity ownership often prioritizes short-term financial returns over reinvestment in operations, resulting in reduced capital spending and declining stability. These pressures strained the Chillicothe Works until 2006, when the P.H. Glatfelter Company purchased it. Glatfelter, a long-established paper manufacturer, returned the operation to its industrial roots, focusing again on papermaking expertise, product quality, and steady employment.

That stability proved temporary. In 2018, Glatfelter sold the mill to Pixelle Specialty Solutions, a firm backed by private-equity ownership. Under Pixelle, the Chillicothe Works operated amid continued industry consolidation and shifting market conditions until its closure in August 2025, costing roughly 750 local jobs.

Even so, local officials and business leaders have expressed cautious optimism that the plant could reopen under new ownership, potentially restoring part of Chillicothe’s historic paper industry. The story of the Mead Paper Company’s Chillicothe Works remains a vivid record of adaptation, from early water-driven mills to modern pulp and coating lines, and a reflection of how ownership models shaped the life and legacy of American manufacturing.