Information Panel: Shenandoah Pulp Factory

Ten turbines powered wood grinders, rolling machines, and other pulp-making machinery.

NPS / Claire Hassler

Quick Facts

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

In 1887-1888, on the former site of the Shenandoah Canal's lower locks, Thomas Savery erected this large mill to provide wood pulp for the paper industry.
Ten turbines, arranged in pairs in the mill's five massive sluiceways, powered wood grinders, rolling machines, and other pulp-making machinery. By the 1920's, Savery's mill had the capacity to produce 15 tons of ground wood pulp daily.
After several unprofitable years, the mill closed in 1935. Within a year the building was destroyed by the record flood of 1936.
Its ruins reveal the last remnant of water-powered industry in Harpers Ferry. Photo caption: The pulp factory in the late 1800's - the building on the right.