This photograph of Hugh J. Chisholm was taken around 1920.

Hugh Chisholm was responsible for creating many businesses in the Rumford area. It is said that on a cold winter’s dayin 1882 Chisholm visited Rumford in a sleigh and saw the potential of a commercial venture when he viewed the power and grandeur of the Rumford Falls.

Chisholm utilized the power the Androscoggin River through the construction of a dam and the digging of a canal at the head of the Falls, to channel waters and pulpwood to the mills’ interior and a lower dam to form a large holding basin at the base of the Falls. The concentration of productivity along and around the river heavily influenced the development of the surrounding towns.

Some of the companies that Chisholm created in the Rumford region include the Rumford Falls Paper Company, the Rumford Falls Publishing Company, the Rumford Falls Boom Company, the Rumford Falls Light and Water Company, and the Oxford Paper Company.