political perspective A Look Back at Panama City’s Paper Mill by: Will Cramer and Tem Fontaine
A
fter operating for more than 90 years, Panama City’s paper mill has closed its doors for good. Though the announcement from WestRock caught most off-
guard, many in the community will always have fond and grateful memories of the opportunities the facility provided Bay County area workers.
6
Andrews Company purchased the Moore Timber Company, whose Lackawanna property, according to the Panama City Pilot, “…gives Mr. Keith, who is vice president of the United Fruit Company, a splendid dock in deep water on East Bay where any of the Fruit Company’s vessels can land; and for his lumber company, about 35 miles of first class railroad, 82,000 acres of land, one of the best
In 1919, the mill, which had been valued at $3 million, was pur-
mills in this section, about three million feet of lumber, and the
chased for $1 million by the St. Andrews Bay Lumber Company,
hamlet of Bay Harbor, which is the best constructed mill town in
formed by Minor Keith and WC Sherman. Later that year, the St.
the South.”
BAY BIZ / SUMMER 2022
