Ampad

American Pad & Paper LLC, or Ampad, is a manufacturer of office products, including writing pads, specialty papers, filing products and envelopes. Some products are marketed under the Ampad brand name, others are produced for brands including Staples and Wal-Mart. The company makes over 2500 products, including pads in a variety of sizes, paper grades, colors, and bindings. Its headquarters are located in Richardson, Texas, United States. with four factories in North America, including facilities in the United States and a plant in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

History

Founding

Ampad was founded in 1888 by Thomas W. Holley, a paper mill employee, in Holyoke, Massachusetts. At the time, Holyoke was a major papermaking center. Holley began purchasing the rejects, or "sortings", from local paper mills, cutting the paper, inscribing rules on it, and binding it into pads which he could sell at a discount. Within a year, Holley's business filled a whole floor of a commercial building on Holyoke's Main Street. By 1894, the business grew to occupy an entire building, at the corner of Winter and Appleton Streets in Holyoke, and in 1909, the size of its facilities there were nearly doubled. By the end of World War II, the company had expanded outside of Massachusetts and established international footholds.