It took me awhile to realize that the road I was driving on was named after the Curtis Paper Mill. Most of you have seen it. Some of you have seen pictures of it. Even less of you have been inside of it. Apparently the place was a hot spot for bums and a haven for drug addicts. In the amount of time that I spent inside the mill, I saw very little of either. What I did see was artwork on the walls and history in the foundations.
If you think about it, it kind of makes sense. During World War II the Curtis Paper Mill produced paper that was later used to print out some of the most important treaties of the war. That being considered, why shouldn’t the most important artists of our area go inside and continue to write on a canvas called Curtis?
Most of the kids I talked to were too freaked out to venture into the Paper Mill. Understandable, because even once I got inside I wasn’t gonna fuck with the basement. The Mill was considered a landmark to the area and an important piece to the towns history. With its demolition I could see a little piece of Newark’s heart breaking and another piece of our area’s graffiti history getting crushed. To me, it seems kind of fitting that they left the Curtis smoke stack up for the time being.
The last piece of graffiti left on the whole building sort of sums up how I feel about the Curtis Paper Mill, throughout its 137 year history it was always down for some action.William Wallace
(For contributions contact theglamorouslifer@gmail.com)
