George  WEST

    
Union Bag and Paper Co. Dam. Ballston Spa, N. Y.

One of the most prosperous residents in the history of Ballston Spa, NY, was a “Paper Bag King” who once laid claim to the largest manila paper bag operation in the world, also located in Saratoga County.

George West, was born in the English village of Kentisbeare in 1822. He was the sixth of nine children, and as soon as he was old enough West followed in his father’s footsteps and began working at a local paper mill...

At first West’s bags were made by hand at the Union Store in Ballston Spa, but demand soon far outpaced his ability to supply them. He erected a bag factory next door to the Empire Mill and in 1866 built a second paper mill next door, which he named the Excelsior.

By 1875 West’s mills were manufacturing five and a half tons of manila paper per day...


West became ill in 1898, just as paper bag factories around the country were being consolidated into giant corporations. He sold his mills to the Union Bag and Paper Company (now part of Union Camp Corporation, which also acquired nearby International Paper mills in 1999)...

newyorkalmanack.com

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