The Hinde & Dauch Paper Company

The Hinde and Dauch Paper Company. . In 1862 James J. Hinde and Jacob J. Dauch established a baling business to sell straw to paper mills, and in 1886 they became partners in a bankrupt mill on Pierce Street then known as the Sandusky Paper Company. Under their leadership the company pioneered the use of corrugated cardboard paper to produce items including shipping boxes, bottle wrappers, lamp chimneys, and store display stands. The company moved operations to the waterfront between Jackson and Decatur Streets in 1895, and opened a second paper mill on Mills Street in 1910. In 1914, their main factory was begun on the pier west of the Jackson St. slip and completed in 1916. By the 1950's Hinde and Dauch was the largest Sandusky based company with plants in both the U.S. and Canada and was known as the "Authority on Packaging" for cardboard shipping products. In 1933 the company entered a merger with the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, later known as Westvaco Corporation, and became their container division. After 1981 their main plant was operated by Displayco Midwest and then by Chesapeake Display and Packaging Co., until it was closed in 1997. In 1999, the City of Sandusky purchased the property and in 2003 partnered with Mid States Development Corporation to convert the factory into the Chesapeake Lofts condominiums, which opened in 2007. This marker is dedicated to the company that not only helped to provide a livelihood for so many of Sandusky’s residents, but also established our city as an early leader in the production of cardboard packaging products.