Amos Hubbard was the preeminent name associated with paper manufacturing at Hubbard Mills in the Yantic Falls area of Norwich for many years. Amos Hubbard, a descendant of Christopher Leffingwell’s daughter, operated Hubbard Brothers Paper Mill at Yantic Falls. When he took over the business in 1818, paper was still being made traditionally by hand, one sheet at a time. In 1828, Amos imported a paper-making machine invented by Mr. Fourdrinier from England, becoming the second person in America to manufacture paper using an automated process that produced paper in a single continuous roll. He quickly realized the benefits of such equipment and ordered additional machines to be installed at Hubbard Mills.
Fourdrinier Paper-Making Machine
Both Amos and his brother Russell were in partnership and successfully ran the business at the Falls for forty years. In about 1857, the real estate and water rights were sold to the Falls Company, and Amos relocated his business to Greeneville, at the foot of Tenth Street, near the Chelsea Mfg. Paper Mill, on the Shetucket River. William P. Greene subsequently converted the old mill to cotton production, for by this time cotton was king in the Falls area. The Norwich Board of Trade listed Amos Hubbard as one of the sixty wealthiest men in Norwich in 1865, with an annual income of $ 24,082. The A. H. Hubbard Company continued under the control of the Hubbard family throughout the nineteenth century, with Charles L. Hubbard as president. In 1917, the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Company took over operations and ran the mill until it closed in 1926.
In 1824, Amos was one of the first incorporators of the Norwich Savings Society, 2nd second-oldest and largest savings bank in the state.
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