William Rittenhouse was born in Germany and learned most of his papermaking skills in Holland. He came to the United States in 1688 and built the first paper mill in America, the Rittenhouse Mill. Towards the aims of staying open and successful Rittenhouse formed a partnership with the first printer of Pennsylvania, William Bradford. Rittenhouse was able to make around 1200 reams of paper a year. This wasn’t enough for Bradley, who also imported paper from Europe, like all of the other printers in America.

Paper mills in America made it easier and cheaper to obtain paper. The trade has evolved so that there are now paper machines that make paper. But the concept is still the same. Paper is among the "five wonders of American industry." The current annual consumption of paper is 400 pounds per capita. It is an essential piece of American society, and it got its native start in 1690 with the Rittenhouse Mill.

*Picture from Encarta Encyclopedia

Orndorff, Bill. (December 1999). The Year 2000 – What Lies Ahead? The Paper Mill (Volume 3, Issue 3). Retrieved January 5, 2004, from: http://www.perryjudds.com/services/paperprocurement/v3i3.asp

• This was an article about the future after 2000, but it mentioned the Rittenhouse paper mill, and discussed the importance of paper. This was useful for my second paragraph.

Whitford, Craig. The Rittenhouse Paper Mill. The History Buff. Retrieved January 5, 2004, from: http://www.historybuff.com/library/refritten.html

• Virtually this entire article was about the Rittenhouse paper mill. I pulled all of my details in the first paragraph from this excellent article. It goes in depth on the people involved, and their histories.