Our Roots

the year was 1846.

And Colonel Daniel Mead started a printing company in Dayton, Ohio, at the advent of automated papermaking.

Several years later, William Luke, the son of a Scottish paper maker, came to America to contribute to the growth of the young nation’s paper industry. With his sons, he established the Piedmont Pulp and Paper Company of Allegany County, Maryland - the first successful chemical pulping process for wood. The company later became West Virginia Pulp and Paper, then Westvaco.

Both ventures grew, and their products became household names. As demand for paper and quality wood products increased rapidly over the years, these two companies continued to expand their land holdings to provide mills with high-quality timber. In 2002 Westvaco merged with The Mead Corporation. In 2008, MeadWestvaco became MWV, the well-known global packaging leader serving some of the world’s most admired brands.