Millinocket seeks anniversary magic Town looks to future on 100th birthday

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MILLINOCKET – At the turn of the last century, Millinocket grew so fast it was nicknamed the Magic City. Now, as it celebrates its 100th anniversary, the Penobscot County town in the middle of the Maine woods finds itself searching for new magic to help carry it through another century.

Millinocket officially became a town on March 16, 1901. Just nine years later, its population had tripled to 3,368. It hit a peak of 7,742 in 1970. Today, Millinocket’s population is 5,203, according to the 2000 census.

The town’s fortunes have been tied closely to the Great Northern Paper Company. As Great Northern grew and prospered during much of the last century, so did the town. And as the company struggled, people began leaving.

Explosion in the woods

In the late-1830s, long before Millinocket became a town, the growing family of Thomas and Betsey Fowler were the first to settle in the area. Little did they know that more than 60 years later their homestead would become the construction site of what then was the largest paper mill in the world.

The idea for the mill came from two visionaries, Garret Schenck and Charles Mullen, who recognized the potential of the vast virgin timberlands and harnessing the hydropower of the west branch of the Penobscot River to make paper.

The construction of Great Northern Paper in the late-1800’s brought a melting pot of hundreds of highly skilled craftsmen to the remote wilderness. They included many Italians, Canadians, Polish, Irish, English, Scotch, Welsh, Germans, Austrians, Greeks, Swedes, Finns and others. There was plenty of work for everyone, a trend that would last even through the Great Depression and for much of the 20th century.

In 1899, the town’s population increased from less than a dozen people to more than 1,000 in a matter of months, and it just kept growing. The huge construction project in the northern Maine wilderness also attracted statewide attention from hundreds of onlookers and newspapers.

“Millinocket, The Magic City of Maine,” read the front-page banner headline in the Bangor Daily Commercial on June 2, 1900. With more than 1,000 men at work, the settlement had two grocery stores, a jeweler, four barbershops, a drug store, two boot and shoe stores, a hardware store, a plumbing establishment, a dry goods business, several boarding homes, a public school and two churches, according to the news story.

“It exploded, there is no question,” said Albert Fowler of the town’s population. Fowler, the great-great-grandson of Millinocket’s first settler, and others said the job opportunities brought hundreds of good, caring and hardworking people to Millinocket. “They wanted to make life better for themselves and for their families,” said Fowler.

Great Northern literally helped build the town, including roads, bridges and schools. It even laid out the house lots and brought in contractors to build homes, all in order to attract people to work at its paper mill.

“Behind everything, Great Northern was there with the pocketbook,” said Kitty St. John, a lifelong Millinocket resident.

Carmen Brigalli, a longtime GNP employee, and others recall the days when crowds of men all pitched in using company equipment and forms to pour the foundations of new homes. He said the company offered more than financial support. It helped people in hard times. He said a large pot of brewed coffee and a baked ham were sent to family wakes, and at times the company plane flew seriously injured or sick residents to hospitals for care.

‘Little Italy’ thrives

Brigalli, 78, still lives in the home his father built in the “Little Italy” section of Millinocket nearly 100 years ago. His father, Bernadino Brigalli, was a mason who worked to build the mill. He said many Italian workers were brought to Millinocket by their “padrone,” Fred Peluso, who was known as the king of Little Italy. Peluso was paid for each man he brought to work at the mill, said Brigalli. Because the men could not speak English, Peluso provided them with jobs and food, wrote their letters and later helped them build homes. Brigalli said Peluso developed Little Italy to the point where it was a tiny town within the community.

“It was just a wonderful, wonderful community and place to live,” said Brigalli. He fondly remembers how everyone helped each other even during the Great Depression when workers shared hours at the mill so everyone would receive some pay.

Polly Segee, 77, a retired schoolteacher and local historian, remembers Millinocket’s heyday. “People used to think Millinocket’s streets were paved with gold,” she said of high-paying wages the company provided.

Great Northern continued to expand and the community continued to thrive. The town became known for its excellent high school basketball teams in the 1960s and early ’70s under legendary Stearns High coach George Wentworth.

Looking back, many residents said they did not see immediately the changes that would come as GNP merged with Great Southern Paper Co. in 1965 and then with Nekoosa Edwards in 1970. Soon, GNP’s big profits were being used to improve and build southern mills. The Maine division, which had produced at least 50 percent of the corporation’s profits, found itself competing with other divisions for needed capital investments.

A turning point

The mid-1980’s marked a time of significant changes for Millinocket. In January 1986, Great Northern announced it would shut down permanently 11 of its 17 paper machines at its Millinocket and East Millinocket paper mills and would cut between 1,200 and 1,400 jobs. The news shocked residents.

Three years later, Millinocket watched the hostile takeover of Great Northern Nekoosa Corp. by paper giant Georgia-Pacific Corp. Later, GP kept its southern mills and sold Great Northern to Bowater Inc. Both companies promised investments that never came. Poor paper markets coupled with a poor economy resulted in even more job losses. Some young families were forced to move away and others took early retirements. The town’s population went into decline. Real estate values plummeted.

The biggest blow to Millinocket came in January 1998, when Bowater announced plans to sell the Millinocket paper mill. The news was devastating for the one-industry town. Nine months later, Bowater sold 1.7 million of its 2.1 million acres of timberlands.

After a 16-month search for a new buyer, two Canadians – Lambert Bedard and Joe Kass – stepped up to buy all of Bowater’s remaining assets in Maine, which included the Millinocket and the East Millinocket paper mills, a massive hydroelectric system and more than 400,000 acres of timberlands, for $250 million. The deal was completed in August, 1999, when Inexcon Maine, LLC, led by Bedard and Kass, purchased all of Great Northern’s stock.

The sale marked a turning point in the company’s 99-year history, a return to a time when company decisions were made in Millinocket and profits were kept locally and not sent out of state.

The new owners plan to spend $100 million to modernize the No. 11 paper machine at the Millinocket mill and to convert the No. 5 paper machine at East Millinocket to make directory paper. The projects are the cornerstone of the company’s business plan to produce totally chlorine-free specialty papers.

Town Manager Gene Conlogue is optimistic about the future. “The people and the town of Millinocket are survivors,” he said. Conlogue said only a few years ago Millinocket faced the possibility of the mill closing, but the new, aggressive owners and their investments have impressed him. “It’s an excellent strategy and helps to guarantee the long-term future of both the company and this area,” he said.

A year after the purchase, the new owners remain very optimistic about the company’s future and are even more excited today with only a month to go before the Millinocket mill modernization project begins. “We are moving ahead with the changes as we announced two years ago,” said Bedard, the company’s chief executive officer.

“The major capital projects under way will ensure the long-term future of our company,” said GNP President Eldon Doody.

Many residents said they believe Great Northern always will play an important role in the town’s economy, but they do not believe Millinocket can rely on a single industry any longer. “Our growth must come from a more diverse economy,” said Gail Fanjoy, chairman of the Town Council.

Fanjoy and others like St. John believe the town needs to tap into some of its resources. “One asset we have that is well-known is our wilderness, lakes, streams and the river along with rafting, snowmobiling and mountain climbing,” said St. John.

Conlogue said Millinocket, working with neighboring towns, is embarking on a course to diversify the economic base of the region and to encourage new families to the area through the Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council – or MAGIC.

Albert Fowler said the area offers opportunity for the future. “We need to celebrate our past, but we can’t keep our eyes focused in the rear-view mirror,” he said. “We have got to look forward, accurately assess existing resources and their potential and then all pull in the same direction.”