Lower Venice Island Paper Mills

Lower Venice Island Paper Mills. Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area. , Lower Venice Island Papermaking , Around 1828, the McDowell Paper Mill began production of the lower canal section. Records are scant for McDowell's business. In the 1840-50s, Joseph McDowell produced paper in his four-story mill and leased space (a common practice at the time) to tenants who produced paper or spun cotton. In 1864, the property was sold to William H. Harding, owner and publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, to make paper for his various publications employing a relatively new process of using straw and wood, rather than rags, for the pulp., Connelly Paper, owners of the property from the 1960s to the late 1990s, produced two-ton craft paper rolls from recycled corrugated boxes that were transported across the river to its large Bala Cynwyd box factory. Although the original McDowell Mill stood along the canal until its demolition in 2013, the Paper Works on the upper canal section is still manufacturing paper., [Captions:] , Drawing of Schuylkill Navigation's property sale to Harding to expand his paper mill business., With the advent of steam power and decline of water power, many of Manayunk's mills moved uphill from the Schuylkill River.