Union Camp Corporation

Union Camp Corporation was an American pulp and paper company and a private owner of timberland in the United States. In 1999 it was acquired by International Paper.

Union Camp came about through the merger of the Union Bag and Paper Company and the Camp Manufacturing Company. Each of these family-owned companies had unique histories that led to the ultimate success of Union Camp until it was acquired by International paper.

The Union Bag and Paper Company's history dates back to 1881 where it began as the Union Paper Bag Machine Company in Bethlehem Pennsylvania under the Calder family. In the late 1920s, partially due to concerns about the labor union movement in the north, the company built a major mill (the largest in the world at the time and for many years) in Savannah, GA. This mill, and local politics, were the subject of Ralph Nader's book, The Water Lords. The company had a major impact on Savannah politics, but was highly respected in the area as having kept Savannah from many of the severe effects of the Great Depression. The Savannah mill has a public golf course, named after Mary Calder, wife of the founder.

The Camp Manufacturing Company was founded in 1887 by 3 local Camp brothers from Franklin, Virginia. Paul Douglas Camp (President), James Leonidas Camp (Vice-president) and Robert Judson Camp (secretary-treasurer) purchased a small sawmill on the outskirts of Franklin. Paul Douglas Camp built The Elms, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The sawmill was purchased from Dr. Jimmy Jordan of Como, North Carolina. Under Dr. Jim Jordan, Camp Manufacturing Company of Franklin prospered and steadily increased in volume. By 1949 it utilized four log trucks, each with several times the load capacity of the first one. The business was grossing about $90 thousand a year.

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