Taggart Paper Mill

Taggart Brothers Company Paper Mill
Taggart and Davis' Paper Mill and Paper Flour Sack Manufactory consisted of a three-story stone main building and a wing, a pulp mill, and a storehouse. The main building (not including the wing) was 200 x 75 feet in size, the store house 120 x 30 feet. The original mill was built in 1845 by W.H. Angel, and was first used as a flouring mill and distillery, then later as a cotton and woolen mill.

When the Taggart Brothers (W.W. and B.B.) and O.R. Davis ran it a total of thirteen water wheels were used. The mill at that time employed over 75 people who manufactured 5,000 pounds of news and manila paper each day, with 50,000 paper bags being made from the manila paper each day (the brown paper bag was supposedly invented in Watertown). The mill was doing $300,000 a year in business. Photos of the ruins of the Watertown Flour Sack Manufactory