A mill has operated at the dam on Newton Falls since 1894. It grew into a major paper mill, which was purchased by McGraw Hill and its partners in 1920 to supply paper for magazines. Wisconsin-based Appleton Papers bought the mill in 1996, and closed it in 2000. The mill reopened briefly in 2007 as the Newton Falls Fine Paper Company, and was the second to last functioning paper mill in the park when it closed for good in 2011. It employed hundreds of local residents, and the town of Newton Falls grew up next to the plant, to house workers.