The company was founded in 1969 as the James River Paper Company by Brenton Halsey and Robert Williams, with the purchase of Ethyl Corporation's Specialty Papers Division.[2] Halsey and Williams were both former employees of Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company; the city of Richmond lies along the James River.
The company changed its name to the James River Corporation in 1973,[2] and it acquired the Brown Company subsidiary of Gulf and Western Industries in 1980 and the Dixie/Northern division of American Can Company in 1982.[3]
In 1986, James River acquired the fine paper mill assets of Crown Zellerbach, headquartered in San Francisco, and became the largest paper manufacturer in the world.[2] The brown paper division of CZ was not in the deal and became Gaylord Container Corporation. Crown Zellerbach had been the target of a hostile takeover by Sir James Goldsmith.[4][5]
James River began producing 100 percent recycled paper products in 1991 at its mill in Green Bay, Wisconsin.[3] Some of the products included Recycled Northern Bath Tissue, Recycled Brawn Towels, and Recycled Northern Napkins. Also that year, the company sold twenty-two paper mills to Specialty Coatings Group.[6]
In 1997, the company merged with the Fort Howard Paper Company of Green Bay, forming the Fort James Corporation.[2][7][8] At the time of their merger, James River was one of the largest paper manufacturers, with 60 manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe.[1] Three years later in 2000, Fort James was acquired by Georgia-Pacific, based in Atlanta.[9][10]
In 1998, Halsey and Williams, the company's founders, were both inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame.[11][12]
$5.7 billion[1] (1996)
$157 million[1] (1996)
