Espanola Agreement started the paper mill town in 1899 by Gary R. Peck.

Located on the Spanish River, the town of Espanola is about 48 miles west of Sudbury and two miles southwest of the junction of Highway 17 and Highway 68. Like all communities in this district, Espanola has a history that warrants sketching.

The year 1899 is significant in the history of the town for in that year the Ontario government and the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Company signed what is known as the Espanola Agreement. Under the agreement, the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Company was granted timber rights in the area for 21 years. For this, the company was required to erect a pulp mill at a cost of about $500,000 to handle 20,000 tons of pulp annually. In addition, the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Company was expected to employ at least 250 men.

Following the signing of the 1899 Espanola Agreement, work commenced on the project. By 1901, the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Company had commenced construction of a dam and pulp mill at Webbwood Falls on the Spanish River, the site being about 30 miles from the North Channel. Apparently, in 1905 the mill was completed. Two years previous, construction of houses had commenced in the company town of Espanola.

New Owner
Finances appear to have been a problem for the Company and in 1910 the assets were assumed by the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. Perhaps a more significant development occurred in 1914 when the company amalgamated with the Lake Superior Paper Company. Now the operations were at Espanola, Sault Ste. Marie and Sturgeon Falls, with the head office at Sault Ste. Marie. Espanola Mill was now one component of a much larger [unreadable].

The townsite of Espanola consisted of 800 acres of Merritt township with, in 1901, the entire population of Merritt being 73. By 1958, the company town had been incorporated as a town, with the population in 1961 numbering 5,535. As for the township of Merritt, the population was 95.

Espanola has undergone a number of developments, culminating with incorporation in 1958. The operation of Espanola as a company town continued until about 1932 when the Abitibi Power and Paper Company went into receivership. Just four years previous, the company gained control of Espanola via a merger with the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Mills. The receivership in 1932 marked the end of the first stage of Espanola as a company town.

For the next ten years plus, Espanola was virtually a ghost town. However, in 1943 the Kalamazoo vegetable Parchment Company of Michigan brought relief with the purchase of the site and mill. Again, Espanola was a company town and would remain so until incorporation in 1958.

The community of Espanola, like many in the Sudbury district, has been marked by the dependence on one industry. Municipal amenities, sidewalks, water and sewer lines, business facilities, roads and schools, etc. were developed with the company heavily involved. Now, such developments are municipal concerns, with elected officials bearing the responsibility. Indeed, Espanola, Spanish for "Little Spain", is a Sudbury district town, with a history that, in many ways, is unique.

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IT HAPPENED IN CANADA [graphic]

Espanola, Ontario got its name c. 1750, when Ojibway Indians from the area staged a raid far to the South (in what is now the USA) into territory then help by Spain and brought back a Spanish woman among the captives, who later married one of her captors. She raised her children to speak Spanish and when French Voyageurs heard Spanish spoken in the village, they dubbed it "Espagnole". This was later anglicized.