The Great Northern Paper (GNP) company's administrative building was located at the entrance of Katahdin avenue.

GNP was introduced in 1897 when Charles W. Mullen, a University of Maine civil engineer graduate and contractor for the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, approached Garret Schenck with the idea of using hydrology in the mill industry.

Shenck, a paper mill expert working at the Rumford Falls Paper Company, helped finalize the details, and together they opened the plant officially in 1900.

Hardy S. Ferguson was the company's first chief consulting engineer for paper company. The Company opened a branch in Madison in 1906 and East Millinocket in 1907. At the time the mill opened it was the world's largest paper mill, producing 240 tons/day of sulfite pulp and ground wood pulp, each.