By Caroline Leddy
Set amid thousands of acres of dense forest, at the intersection of 13 lakes and rivers, and within view of Mount Katahdin, Millinocket, in northern Maine, is perfectly situated for a paper mill. Once called the “Magic City” because it seemed to pop up overnight out of the wilderness, Millinocket was built by The Great Northern Paper Company in 1899.
For over a century, the company was the only major employer in town, providing well-paying unionized jobs for 8,000 in a town that had the highest income per capita in Maine.
But beginning in the 1980s, Millinocket was hit with a one-two punch–a decline in demand for paper and the rise in low-cost foreign competition. Just 10 years earlier, the company merged with Nekoosa-Edwards, kicking off the domino effect of the decline of the company and the Millinocket paper mills. The mills were effectively closed in 2008, laying off more than 450 workers.
Great Northern had maintained a monopoly on the workforce by offering high wages, union representation and keeping other businesses out. Because of this strategy, Millinocket was underprepared for the collapse of the driving force behind its economy.
The company “prevented any diversification of our economy, it prevented entrepreneurship,” said Mindy Crandall, a professor of forestry at the University of Maine at Orono, who said Great Northern actively discouraged new industry from coming to Millinocket.
According to Crandall, when the mill closed there was a sense of “don’t blame us for not knowing how to deal with this, we literally were given no tools to deal with this.”
Longtime residents remember how a plant manager would come to Millinocket High School the week before graduation. Students would gather in the gymnasium and wait to receive their call number and steel-toed boots, eager to join a workforce that promised prosperity and job security.
Herbert Clock, a former millworker and lifelong Millinocket resident, worked at the mill for the majority of his life. He said the mill would employ just about anyone.
“You more or less had a job at the mill, if you wanted to work here in Millinocket.” he said. “If you worked at Great Northern Paper, you were right in the in-crowd.”
PHOTOS: Millinocket through the years (Produced by Edgar Llivisupa)
Although the workers who were laid off were offered retraining programs by both the government and Great Northern, the majority were not ready for a change, said John Davis, Millinocket’s town manager. Davis, who worked for Great Northern for more than 30 years and was laid off for the final time in 2011, said he was one of the few who finally took advantage of a government training program.
“We were older and it was hard for a lot of people to get back to the books,” he said, explaining that some friends decided to follow the paper mills around the state, until eventually they all shut.The closure of the paper mill had a catastrophic effect on the town of Millinocket. The once prosperous and busy main street is now quiet and almost empty. The shops that would bring people to the center of town, including bowling alleys, bars and the sole coffee shop, have closed. The town’s population has shrunk to 4,000 people. (Related content: Millinocket saloon is a holdout from a more prosperous era)
PODCAST: Remembering Better Days (Produced by André Beganski)
Not surprisingly, the town’s people jumped at the chance to embrace new opportunities–some of which were highly dubious. Most audacious was the Avenger Boat scheme, which promised to build an $8 million manufacturing facility and would employ 600 people over the course of several years. The town council overwhelmingly voted to bring the company into town and lend it $50,000 to do so. Only Matt Polstein, owner of New England Outdoor Center–voted against the plan, arguing that not enough information was known about the company.
He proved prescient. The company, which did not have a facility and employed only two people, was fraudulent. The town council quickly reversed its decision to allow the company to set up, deciding that Avenger Boat was not trustworthy.
However, when it seemed like all was lost, hope came from an unexpected source: the young people who left Millinocket came back to form Our Katahdin, an organization aimed at saving the town. They started with small projects, their first rebuilding the bandstand in the center of town and decorating it with Christmas lights. Such a small project went a long way, and brought with it a sense of hope for the town.
Surrounded by thousands of miles of untouched wilderness, beautiful scenery and rivers that run as far as the eye can see, Millinocket is perfectly situated for ecotourism. The New England Outdoor Center is set upon the pristine waters of Millinocket Lake and has a picturesque view of Mount Katahdin.
The recent establishment of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument brought with it the promise of increased business for Millinocket, which is located nearby. The land, which was left by Burt’s Bee’s cofounder Roxanne Quimby, would allow activities like hunting and fishing. One sign that the tide is turning in favor of ecotourism in Millinocket–former workers who used to view the woods as supply for the mill, now view them as an opportunity to welcome new business to the town.
“If that’s going to bring people to Millinocket, I think most people will accept it.” said Davis, once one of the Monument’s fiercest local opponents.
The town recently announced that LignaTerra Global LLC, a North Carolina-based company that produces cross-laminated timber, is interested in building a $30 million factory this summer.
“I think we’re starting to turn the corner, coming around a little bit, but people in this area [are] still really skeptical about what’s going to happen from one day to the other,” said Clock.
Young people and businesses are gradually returning. Among the newcomers is Steve Golieb and his shop, Turn the Page Bookstore and Wine Bar. Golieb, who now lives in Millinocket, decided to open his store because of the town’s potential.
“This is a place that kind of represents a lot of rural America,” he said, noting that he hopes that by putting in the energy to transform the town, he’ll be able to come up with solutions for other towns experiencing similar hardship.
The Millinocket Memorial Library has seen positive change in the last year, welcoming a new librarian and being awarded a $500,000 grant to renovate the building. This is a welcome change by many, especially after the library shut for almost three weeks in 2015 due to lack of funding.
“What I saw in Millinocket was a town that was going through an incredible transition,” said Matt Delaney, the librarian at the Millinocket Memorial Library. “A town like this needs a public library more than any other town.”
Related content: Healing through storytelling at Millinocket’s library
Jessica Masse, who owns DesignLab with her husband John Hafford, said Millinocket was the obvious choice for her and her family.
“We both had plenty of experiences here that were impactful to us when we were young,” she said.
Masse and Hafford have two children, ages 4 and 6. Being able to give them a good experience outdoors was a priority, and the miles of untouched forest and expansive outdoors allow them to do that.
VIDEO: Finding a Way Forward (Produced by Rommel Ojeda)
“We wanted to raise them and give them opportunities to know what it’s like to just camp, swim, spend time in the woods and putter around without having to ‘helicopter parent’ them or anything like that,” she said.
Slowly, the return of families like that of Masse and Hafford bring promise for the future of the town. One thing that Millinocket lacks more than anything: families. Should the presence of children increase, it will be clear that the revival was a success.