The White River Paper Co. opened for business on April 19, 1881. The owners of the Company at that time were Alma C. Farman, George W. Smith and Samuel L. Farman. The business was located in the basement of the Smith and Son building.

Samuel L. Farman brought to the business a good knowledge of the paper industry having worked in a book publishing concern in Claremont, NH. For thirty years. He came to White River Jct. In 1879 and carried on a small paper products business which was the forerunner of the White River Paper Co.

Shortly after its organization the paper company engaged facilities in the Union freight depot for storage of its stock. On Tuesday, January 2, 1888, the depot was destroyed by fire. White River Paper Co. suffered a loss of over $4,500.00 in paper goods.

The firm prospered under the Smith and Farman management until the time of Mr. Smith’s death in 1905. Mr. Farman assumed control of the thriving business at this time. In 1907 the firm moved into the Barnes building on the corner of North Main and Currier streets.

J. Pratt Kimball of West Lebanon, NH and George G. Nichols of White River Jct., VT entered the employment of the firm in the 1890’s. Both men assumed ownership when Mr. Farman died in 1911. Mr. Nichols is the great-grandfather of Michael and Jeffrey Lyford who presently own the business.

Mr. Nichols was a very prominent person in White River Jct. Not only was he a very good business person, he was elected to the post of Selectman in the town in 1916. Mr. Nichols was re-elected continuously and served the town for 21 years.

Mr. Nichols died in 1943 and Mr. Kimball retired in 1946. Two members of the company, Robert Whitney and Laurence Nichols, son of the former owner purchased controlling interest in the company in 1946.

In 1957 the White River Paper Co. moved into the building on Gates Street formerly occupied by Cross-Abbott Co. The Firm provided employment for 19 people at that time.

In the 1960’s the next generation of The Nichols family started to work for White River Paper, Ed Nichols. At about the same time, Laurence Nichol’s daughters husband entered employment at the company, Peter Lyford.

During the coming years, Ed Nichols and Peter Lyford bought the shares of company stock from Robert Whitney. They worked very hard and grew the business considerably over the coming years. In 1973, Laurence Nichols passed away and Ed Nichols became President of White River Paper.

This was a very exciting time for the company. Many new products were being developed for use in the markets that the company sold in. White River Paper Co. started to distribute many new items like plastic garbage liners and foam cups and containers. These are items that led to even faster growth for the company.

White River Paper not only was growing at this time because of the new products, but they were quickly opening up new markets. Peter Lyford was very aggressively selling these new products to new customers in Burlington VT, the largest city in the state. The new Interstate Highway system allowed for much greater access to many areas.

In 1986, Peter Lyford along with his two sons, Michael and Jeffrey Lyford, assumed control of the company and bought out the shares of stock that Ed Nichols owned. The following year they built a new distribution facility in Hartford, VT that allowed for much greater sales. This state of the art facility is where the company is at the present time.

In 1993 Peter Lyford’s sons assumed control of the company when he retired. Since this time the company has grown considerably. White River Paper's growth has come once again from the introduction of new products. Peter Lyford had great vision and he saw that selling janitorial and packaging items was the future for his company.

At the present time White River Paper Co. is one of Vermont and New Hampshire’s leading distributors of foodservice disposables, janitorial, packaging, and office supplies. Our modern distribution centers in Hartford, VT allows us to quickly and efficiently deliver products on our own trucks to all of our customers in Vermont and New Hampshire. All other orders that are received by us are shipped out the quickest and most cost effective way for our customers.

This web site and order entry system that has been developed is our latest attempt to keep servicing our customers in the most modern way we know how. We hope it will be of use to you.