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In 1980 when the White River Park Development Commission began assembling the acreage that would someday be White River State Park, the Beveridge Paper Co. stood at 107 W. Washington St. with its foundations deep in the banks of the White River. Beveridge was the sole surviving paper mill of five that sprung up in the area on the river's banks around West Washington Street in the late 1800s. The park commission's acquisition of the mill, which uses 100,000 gallons of water from the river daily to make its high-grade poster board, looked like it would require the most intensive negotiations of any parcel in the proposed 265-acre park site. (excerpt)
In 1980 when the White River Park Development Commission began assembling the acreage that would someday be White River State Park, the Beveridge Paper Co. stood at 107 W. Washington St. with its foundations deep in the banks of the White River.
Beveridge was the sole surviving paper mill of five that sprung up in the area on the river's banks around West Washington Street in the late 1800s.
The park commission's acquisition of the mill, which uses 100,000 gallons of water from the river daily to make its high-grade poster board, looked like it would require the most intensive negotiations of any parcel in the proposed 265-acre park site.
To move the plant and its guts -- "thousands of tons" worth of machinery and holding tanks -- would be a massive, six-month undertaking, said Richard Tarr, Beveridge president. It would cost.
Sensing this and acknowledging the existence of other big, east-side-of-the-river plants -- the Acme-Evans Co. flour mill and Indianapolis Power & Light Co. steam-generating station -- the commission concentrated its land-acquisition efforts to the west, where its plans were more focused anyway.
Today, six years later, the park commission owns all but six acres of its proposed 265-acre site; Beveridge's 4 acres and 250,000-square-foot plant are among the non-park-owned tracts. The mill, which employs 150 people, still drinks in water from the river and churns out its high-quality poster board, which is used primarily for printing posters and for point-of-purchase advertising displays.
And it looks like Beveridge will remain for at least a few years, as the commission's plans for the east bank remain unsettled (see IBJ, Sept. 29-Oct. 5). Those plans, which include the development of a 30- to 35-acre entertainment complex, are being reevaluated by park planners because of a failure, so far, to interest a major developer in undertaking the project.
It is likely to take time, most observers agree.
But when the plans gel and a developer materializes, things will happen quickly, most observers suggest, and Beveridge will be acquired and razed. Then, Tarr believes, Beveridge will chose among three alternatives: building a new facility; buying an existing mill elsewhere; or buying and converting an existing mill.
That means that in the immediate future, local school groups and other organizations can still tour the mill to see how poster board is made. Beveridge is one of 14 "exciting educational field trips" listed on a brochure currently available at area McDonald's restaurants.
Some interesting points:
* Beveridge, which doesn't have its own boiler, is one of IPL's 10-largest steam customers; the steam is used to dry the poster board and run the plant's turbines;
* The plant operates seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with minimal shutdowns for maintenance and an annual three-day break for Christmas;
* Beveridge's monthly bill for sewer service -- which is needed to eliminate wastewater -- runs between $6,000 and $8,000;
* Prior to implementing water-recycling procedures that enable the mill to reuse its free water supply, Beveridge used 1 million gallons of river water per day; and according to Tarr, if it still used 1 million gallons per day, the sewer bill would be more than $100,000 per month.
In making its various grades of poster board, the company mixes water with various kinds of scrap paper, including old newspaper stock, envelope clippings and the like. The fibrous paper stock is mixed with the water and pressed together by the mill's huge machinery, and then dried to form the poster board -- much the same way it's been done for years.
In fact, visiting Beveridge today is almost like taking a step back into the late 1800s. The weathered, red-brick exterior of the plant shows its age; the interior is a far cry from today's typical modernized corporate headquarters.
While the company is no longer locally owned, Beveridge was owned by the city's Sutphin family for 70 years, until 1965 when Samuel B. Sutphin sold the plant as part of a package to Philadelphia-based Scott Paper Co.
Originally known as the White Paper Mill and owned by Sallsbury & Vinton, the company produced rag stock for The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Indianapolis Journal. Later known as the Lindsay Mill, it came upon hard times and in 1895 was purchased by a major creditor, I.V. Sutphin from Cincinnati.
That same year, Sutphin enticed Henry L. Beveridge, who was superintendent of a Beckett Paper Co. mill in Hamilton, Ohio, to join him in Indianapolis, and the mill was reincorporated as Beveridge Paper Co., with Sutphin as president and Beveridge as superintendent.
After several rough years, Beveridge began to flourish and expand until March 1913, when a rain-induced flood from White River shut down the mill for five weeks. The flood filled the entire basement and rose up five feet on the paper machine on the main floor before the waters began to recede.
Beveridge died in 1923, and I.V.'s son, Samuel B. Sutphin, who had joined the firm in 1899, took over the roll of president and general manager.
A history of the company points to other significant years: 1926, when management installed group life and health insurance; 1938, when additional health benefits were added and a credit union was organized; 1940, when management instituted a pension plan; 1942, when hospital and surgical benefits were added.
At some point, Samuel R. Sutphin took over the reigns at Beveridge, and he instigated the sale of the company in 1965 to Philadelphia-based Scott Paper Co. Sutphin came away with a bounty of Scott Paper stock and a job at the well-known paper-products firm.
Scott then sold Beveridge in 1974 to New Haven, Conn.-based Simkins Industries Inc., a closely held, public company that owns and operates several plants around the country which make different kinds of paper and poster board.
Simkins had annual sales of $143 million and earnings of $6.6 million for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 1985; 1986 earnings haven't been tabulated.
While he wouldn't disclose exact figures, Tarr said that Beveridge, which sells its product primarily to paper merchants who in turn sell it to printers and other large paper users, accounts for between 10 percent to 15 percent, or between $14 million and $21 million, of Simkins' revenue.
While Tarr is happy that Beveridge seems secure for at least the immediate -- maybe five-year -- future, he has no delusions that the historic site will remain unscathed when park developers put their final plans in motion.
"I don't think the commission envisions us as part of the entertainment center," he concedes, with a wry smile. In the meantime, Beveridge will remain a little piece of living history on West Washington.
Copyright IBJ Corporation Oct 27, 1986