Fairfield House, BV Plant Named To List

Paxton House Dates From 1820; Columbian Paper Mill From 1890s

A historic house near Fairfield and the Columbian Paper Company (Bonded Fibers) mill in Buena Vista have been added to the Virginia Landmarks Register.

The commonwealth’s Board of Historic Resources approved 10 Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) listings, including the two in the Rockbridge area, during its quarterly public meeting on March 21 in Richmond.

According to a press release from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the Paxton House at 240 Sales Mill Road near Fairfield, built around 1820, is considered a notable example of the Federal architectural style, a design that was popular in the region during the early years of the American republic.

The house is believed to have been built for the Samuel Paxton family and was later associated with the Gessinger (Gisiner) and Sale families.

The house has two interior end chimneys that incorporate nine separate flues from the house’s nine fireplaces, according to the nomination form. Unusual features include what may be a built-in sugar chest, contained in a press in a room interpreted as the dining room, and a Germanic underframe roof structure.

The 10-acre property also includes a 20th century frame barn on an older stone foundation.

The Columbian Paper Company mill, located along the Maury River in Buena Vista, “serves as a rare, well-preserved example of a historic complex associated with paper production, one of the city’s leading industries from the late 19th to mid-20th century,” according to the press release from the DHR.

Mill-related construction began under the Buena Vista Paper Manufacturing Company about 1890, but most of the mill dates to the Columbian Paper Company period, which started in 1892 and involved a decades-long expansion program.

The mill was used to make paper until 1954 when it was acquired by Bonded Fibers (Bontex) and converted to other uses. The five-acre nominated area encompasses two buildings: the main mill building, a large cumulative agglomeration of mostly rectangular brick wings; and a smaller chip house. Brick pier-wall construction with decorative corbelling and stone or poured concrete foundations are typical of the older sections of the mill.

A branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad formerly passed through the property, accompanied by a siding. The Columbian Paper Company mill incorporates a circa 1860 stone canal lock into its foundation.

According to details found in the nomination form, the Columbian Paper Company transferred the lease for the mill property to the Mead Corporation in March 1951. The mill was subsequently operated by Piedmont Paper Products Inc., which appears to have been a Mead subsidiary. Piedmont manufactured Kraft paper at the mill, continuing the traditional focus on paper production. In June 1954, the Mead Corporation transferred the lease to Piedmont Paper Products, which promptly transferred the lease to Bonded Fibers Inc. Bonded Fibers, better known as Bontex, was an outgrowth of the Georgia Leather Company, founded by Hugo N. Surmonte in Newark.

James H. Kostelni, Surmonte’s son-in-law, joined the company in 1957 and later succeeded Surmonte as its president. He explained in the nomination form that the mill was converted to the production of a composite cellulose/ latex material known as Bontex. The material was used for a variety of products from car engine gaskets to hat visors and shoe insoles. The Bontex mill continued in operation into the early 21st century but is now idle.

-The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will forward the documentation for these newly listed VLR sites to the National Park Service for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

Listing a property in the state or national registers is honorary and sets no restrictions on what owners may do with their property, according to the DHR. Designating a property to the state or national registers provides an owner the opportunity to pursue historic rehabilitation tax credit improvements to the building.