Parlor - History of Appleton and America
The Rogers / Van Nortwick partnership eventually owned eight paper mills along the Fox River, some of them the largest in the world at the time. Their empire was second only to Kimberly and Clark in the number of mills. In fact, the two empires were an order of magnitude larger than any other paper company at the time. Rogers, a paper baron who drove the creation of the “Paper Valley,” was the equal of Kimberly and Clark.
In 1880, Rogers and John Van Nortwick also purchased all the water rights along the Fox River from the federal government to protect their business empire. Importantly, this was done at the urging of Cremora: The Rogers truly are a Gilded Age business couple. Rogers and Van Northwick then leased the water rights to all other users of waterpower along the river. However, instead of manipulating pricing to their advantage, the two kept the lease rates artificially low to spur industry and growth along the Valley.
Rogers ended up owning as many as 20 businesses in Appleton (the 19th century way to diversify your portfolio and diminish risk). He was the unpaid president of the local gas company providing gaslight to Appleton households. It is no wonder then that Rogers immediately saw the potential of using water driven dynamoes to light homes across the city.
Along with the Van Nortwicks, Rogers also helped found the town of Combined Locks Wisconsin, for the workers at one of their paper mills.
