Ghost Town of Jaite, Ohio. And The Old Jaite Paper Mill

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Greetings ~

Not all ghost towns are ram shackled and run down. And not all are disserted and abandoned. Jaite, Ohio is a good example of that. It has it's ghosts, but they are only a testament to years long passed.

Back in the 1980s, I worked for 16-years at Jaite Packaging Company in the Peninsula Valley in Ohio. It was a good job. The company made packaging for food, medical, soda bottles and many other businesses. Remember the plastic banners that flew over auto dealer's lots years ago? Well, many came from Jaite Packaging.

This blog is about the "original" Jaite. It was a paper mill and a company town. This was it's origin. The Jaite that I worked for was a relation of the original. There were many companies with their own towns throughout the early to mid 1900s. The coal mines of West Virginia was full of them. The paper industry had their fare share as well.

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Hello! I'm Mr. Ed

Blog Created: 4-6-2024

Last Updated: 4-7-2024

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FROM: Wikipedia

Jaite Mill Historic District ~

The Jaite Mill Historic District, also known as Jaite, is a nationally recognized historic district in Cuyahoga and Summit counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The Cuyahoga County portion of the district is located in the city of Brecksville, while the Summit County portion is located in Sagamore Hills Township. Built in 1903 as the Jaite Company Paper Mill, its center is at the intersection of Vaughn and Riverview roads, north of the crossing of Interstates 80 and 271.

On May 21, 1979, the former company town was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is the trailhead of several hiking routes in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and is on the way to the Boston Mills and Brandywine ski resorts.

History ~

The Jaite Company Paper Mill was the brain child of Charles Jaite, who founded the company on September 18, 1905. The mill remained in operation through 1951 and was then sold because of increasing competition in the south. After the property was sold to various owners, including Tecumseh who used the plant for making boxes, it ceased operation and was partially dismantled in 1984, some 5 years after the mill was included in the National Register of Historic Places. The remains of the factory can be seen on the Erie Canal Scenic Pathway somewhere around mile marker 19 or 20, between lock 31 and 32. When the factory's operation began to decline, the community of Jaite declined as well.

Charles Jaite purchased the section of land along Riverview Road in 1906 and along Vaughn Road in 1917 to provide housing for the workers of his paper mill. It had "houses and a dormitory, and also a general store, post office, and railway station". Today, most of the buildings of Jaite still exist, painted yellow. Some are occupied by businesses but most are occupied by operations of the National Park Service.

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FROM: The National Park Service

Jaite, a Paper Mill and Company Town

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

To many who pass by, the Jaite Mill site is a discarded industrial wasteland, yet for residents of the valley the mill brought work, family, and community together. In 1908, the Jaite Company was considered by William B. Doyle, in his Centennial History of Summit County, “one of the most important business enterprises of this section of Summit County.” Jaite Mill stories of industrialization, community, growth, and decline are a part of the larger story of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Charles Jaite ~

Much of the mill’s early success can be attributed to the quiet, resourceful founder who studied paper manufacturing since boyhood. Charles Jaite was born in Germany, but immigrated to Cleveland with his parents. By age 13, he worked in a paper mill in Cleveland, alongside other immigrants from Germany and Poland. He went on to become the president of Standard Bag and Paper Company in 1902 and vice president of the Cleveland Paper Company. These two firms consolidated to form the Cleveland-Akron Bag Company, located across from present day Boston Mills Ski Resort. In July of 1905, he resigned to begin his own papermaking company.

The Early Mill Years ~

On September 18, 1905, Charles Jaite founded the Jaite Paper Company with brothers and in-laws as the officers. They purchased 22.76 acres in Northfield Township, deep within the Cuyahoga Valley. They hired local farmers to begin building the mill, using sand dredged from the nearby river to make concrete block. They laid tracks to connect to the railroad and drilled five gas wells and a sixth artesian well that provided water. According to Centennial History of Summit County, the water was of such “purity that the paper manufactured with its use is many points stronger than paper made… with ordinary water.”

The mill site was carefully chosen for its easy access to transportation via the Ohio & Erie Canal and the Cleveland Terminal & Valley Railroad. The site was also close to the water of Brandywine Creek, which later proved unneeded because of artesian wells. Here, halfway between Cleveland and Akron, land was inexpensive and available. The first product Jaite Mill produced was “Blue Line Paper,” used for flour bags and made on a cylinder machine, which creates sheets of paper. Later a second machine was installed that could make paper from rope.

Workers pose on the production floor at Jaite Paper Mill. Undated photo.

In those first years, after an eight to ten hour day, workers were expected to stay after and mix cement and sand to make more blocks to expand the factory. By 1919, the mill had added another cylinder machine for making single wall bags as the company expanded into fertilizer bags and bread sacks. In 1926, some of the cylinders were rebuilt as two Fourdrinier machines. The Fourdriniers could make continuous long rolls of paper, to be used in making bags with several “walls,” or layers. In 1928 the company produced its first successful multi-walled cement bag. In its heyday during the 1920s and 1930s, Jaite Mill was the 11th largest multi-wall paper producer in the nation.

Heyday Work Force ~

Although Mr. Jaite began with a small, private operation, his vision for the mill and its workforce was on a much larger scale: not just a company but a community to support the mill as well. In 1906, Mr. Jaite purchased land on Riverview Road, where he built five two-story buildings as employee housing. He added four small single-family units along Vaughn Road in 1917.

A company town developed with homes, a general store, a post office, and a railroad station. A weekly newsletter spread the latest local news. Unlike the stereotypical company town, here there was no script (company-issued money) and people were not forced to live in company quarters. While life was not luxurious, rents were affordable.

By 1918, 214 employees worked at Jaite Mill, and by the Depression years, nearly 250 people were employed. A third of these were women who sewed the bags and worked in the offices. By 1933, during the height of the Depression, the mill operated 24 hours a day. This was its heyday with jobs enough for the local population and for Polish immigrants who moved here to live and work in the mill. A family atmosphere prevailed. In a University of Akron interview, Willy Ritch recalled, “Everybody was related to one another... in the bag plant: father, mother, daughter, son, brothers, sisters.”

At peak production, workers were sleeping in shifts in the dormitory at the intersection of Vaughn and Riverview (now Cuyahoga Valley National Park Headquarters), while others walked or took the company transportation to work from Boston or Peninsula, summoned by the company whistle. The whistle sounded four times per day at set times, creating a rhythm to valley life. When it stopped sounding in the 1950s, it was missed by local residents.

The Mill's Later Years ~

After World War II, the small, private mill was unable to compete with larger mills, particularly those in the south. In 1951 the Jaites made the difficult decision to sell the mill to National Container Corporation. The mill changed hands again, first to Owens-Illinois and then to Tecumseh. One Fourdrinier machine was disassembled, then the bag factory closed, and finally the Jaite Company housing was sold to private individuals.

In 1975, the National Park Service arrived on the scene. Four years later the Jaite Mill Historic District was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. The mill fell silent in December 1984. The next year, the national park purchased the property. The park also acquired the buildings that had been the company town and rehabilitated them to become the distinctive yellow offices of park headquarters.

The NPS considered many plans for adapting the historic industrial buildings for new uses. Arson on October 2, 1992 snuffed out these plans, leaving the mill a serious safety hazard with unsecured walls and roofs, exposed asbestos, and potential hazardous waste containing chambers.

The focus changed to rehabilitating the mill site and restoring natural habitat. Lack of funding stalled progress for years, until the legal settlement from the hazardous material clean-up at the Krejci Dump site provided the necessary dollars for the above-ground work at Jaite Mill. Emergency demolition began in March 2006. Although the NPS removed most material, the park kept an original 1928 Fourdrinier to explain how these machines formed pulp into paper, and the corner markers to indicate the extent of the mill. Also look for the Ohio & Erie Canal prism which is still visible, passing right alongside an old artesian well. In time, the park will restore the site to the wet forest that Charles Jaite began with over a hundred years ago.

“It was an enjoyable place to work… away from the hustle and bustle of everything.” - Jerry Cervenski, as quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

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This photograph shows the village of Boston, Ohio around 1910. The Cleveland-Akron Bag Company is at the left, with the company houses on Main St. above. The general store sits to the right of the covered bridge. Photo courtesy of the Peninsula Library & Historical Society (Peninsula, Ohio).

The Cleveland-Akron Bag Company built this company store just south of the plant on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River. The Boston General Store sold to workers on credit, but a motto on the sales receipt read “all bills must be paid in full every regular pay.” Chester and Julia Zielenski managed this store for the bag company for years. The Zielenskis purchased the building in 1925. Photo courtesy of the Peninsula Library & Historical Society (Peninsula, Ohio).

Stations were built along the railroad –this photograph shows the station at Boston Mill. The mill’s effect on Boston was so overwhelming that the Valley Railway changed the name on the depot from “Boston” to “Boston Mill.” Photo courtesy of the Peninsula Library & Historical Society (Peninsula, Ohio).

Photo of the Cleveland-Akron Bag Company. Photo courtesy of the Peninsula Library & Historical Society (Peninsula, Ohio)

Pictured are a group of workers at the Cleveland-Akron Bag Company on August 8, 1910. Photo courtesy of the Peninsula Library & Historical Society (Peninsula, Ohio)

Visible in the left corner of this photograph is the Boston Mill Store. Photo courtesy of the Peninsula Library & Historical Society (Peninsula, Ohio).

Photos taken c1985.

VIEW LOOKING NORTH AT PARTIAL SOUTH ELEVATION OF FACTORY, SHOWING COVERED LOADING PLATFORM.

VIEW LOOKING NORTH AT PARTIAL SOUTH ELEVATION OF FACTORY, SHOWING LOADING PLATFORM.

VIEW LOOKING EAST AT FORMER 1927 PULP MILL.

VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST AT PARTIAL EAST ELEVATION OF FACTORY, SHOWING ORIGINAL PORTION OF PLANT; OIL STORAGE TANKS IN FOREGROUND.

VIEW LOOKING SOUTHEAST, SHOWING RAILROAD SPURS AND FORMER COAL YARD.

VIEW LOOKING SOUTHWEST AT NORTHEAST CORNER OF FACTORY'S FORMER ELEVATOR SHAFT.

VIEW IN FOURDRINIER AREA OF PLANT, SHOWING CALENDAR STACKS AND ROPE REEL AT END OF FOURDRINIER RUN.

VIEW IN FOURDRINIER AREA OF PLANT, SHOWING COUCH ROLL .

VIEW LOOKING EAST IN BEATER ROOM, SHOWING DOROLIVER MACHINE IN RIGHT FOREGROUND.

VIEW LOOKING NORTH IN ROLLED PAPER STORAGE AREA OF PLANT, SHOWING CLEAR STORY LIGHTING.

VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST IN MILL SUPPLY STORAGE ROOM.

VIEW LOOKING SOUTH IN BEATER ROOM, SHOWING FEED PLATFORM TO HYDROPULPER.

VIEW LOOKING WEST IN BEATER ROOM, SHOWING HYDROPULPER IN RIGHT FOREGROUND IN CLARIFIER IN BACKGROUND.

VIEW OF LAST ROLL OF PAPER MADE AT JAITE PAPER MILL, DATED DECEMBER 24, 1984.

This structure was once the general store and dormitory.

Jaite Company Store, now the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Headquarters.

The buildings of the Jaite company town now serve as Cuyahoga Valley National Park Headquarters.

Railroad bridge at Jaite.

The rail depot still stands today.

Children of Jaite workers play on the porch of one of t he company houses in the 1950s.

Company houses in the 1960s.

The houses and other buildings have all been restored.

Jaite Mill Worker's House no.3, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio, USA.

Display sign in the town of Jaite.

Sign for the Jaite Trailhead.

Sign on trail depot.

The Jaite Packaging Co. that I worked for was sold out to Sealright Corp. That's when the company turned to crap!

Bob Maurer Art Works.

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Ernest Preston Obituary

He was the man who owned Jaite Packaging Co. in Akron. The company that I worked for. He was a good man.

Ernest R. Preston Jr., 70, died Monday, July 22, 2002.

He was a resident of Naples, Fla., and Akron, Ohio. He was born in Akron on Oct. 31, 1931. He attended Old Trail School, graduated cum laude from the Choate School in 1949, and graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University in 1953, where he was a member of the Cottage Club and the Naval ROTC. He married Jean Bender on June 20, 1953, in Akron, Ohio. He served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant in Brunswick, Ga. In 1955, he returned to Akron to work for Edward McCormick in the insurance and trucking industries. In 1958, he became president and CEO of the Jaite Display Bag Co. in Peninsula, Ohio, which moved to Akron in 1972 as the Jaite Packaging Co. During this time he completed the Small Company Management Program at Harvard Business School. In 1990, he sold Jaite Packaging Co., while he continued to operate the Naples Printing Co. in Naples, Fla. He served on business-related boards of the National Flexible Packaging Association, the Flexographic Technical Association, Bank One-Akron, the Cupples Co. in St. Louis, Mo., Excelsior Stamp in Stow, Ohio, Reuther Mold and Manufacturing Co. in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and the Provincetown-Boston Airline. He was awarded the First Merit Bank Eagle Award in 1987, and the Flexible Packager of the Year in 1989. He served on volunteer boards for Akron City Hospital, Summit County Historical Society, the Arthritis Foundation, the Port Royal Property Owners Association, and was a founding board member of the Health Resources Corp., an affiliate of NCH Health Care System in Naples, Fla. He also served on the board and was past president of Portage Country Club and served on the board of the Port Royal Beach Club in Naples, Fla.

He was preceded in death by his son, Edward B. Preston. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Jean Bender Preston; daughters and sons-in law, Lisa P. and Jim Bertles of Palm Beach, Fla., Page P. and Jeff Growney of New Canaan, Conn., and son and daughter-in- law, Ernest R. III (Chip) and Laura Preston; 10 grandchildren; and sister, Jean Jett of Los Gatos, Calif.

Memorial donations, in lieu of flowers, may be sent to Old Trail School Foundation, P.O. Box 827, Bath, Ohio 44210; the Naples Botanical Garden, 4820 Bayshore Dr., Naples, Fla. 34112; or the American Cancer Society. A memorial service will be held Thursday, July 25, at 11:30 a.m., at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1361 W. Market St., Akron, Ohio. (Billow FAIRLAWN.)

Published by Akron Beacon Journal from Jul. 23, 2002.