- published: 12 Dec 2012
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International Paper Company (NYSE: IP) is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 59,500 employees, and it is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.
International Paper was incorporated January 31, 1898, upon the merger of 18 pulp and paper mills in the northeastern United States. Its first president was Hugh J. Chisholm. The newly-formed company supplied 60 percent of all newsprint in the country.
The Hudson River Mill in Corinth, where the Sacandaga river joins the Hudson river, was a major pioneer in the development of the modern paper industry in the late 19th century. The first wood-based paper (newsprint) mill in New York, it was built by Albrecht Pagenstecher in 1869.
In the early 20th century, the Hudson River Mill was one of International Paper's largest plants and served both as the Company's principal office, and a place where paperworkers helped shape the direction of the industry's early labor movement.
After World War II, Hudson River Mill workers developed and perfected the production of coated papers for International Paper. Shifting economic forces resulted in the mill's closure in November 2002. The historic mill was slated for demolition in 2011.