Photo: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Toledo sits a few miles up the Yaquina River from Newport, and for most of the past seven decades its skyline has been defined by the paper mill. The mill, now owned by Georgia-Pacific, makes linerboard used in cardboard boxes.
An industrial anchor
Lincoln County’s economy leans on tourism and fishing, so the mill stands out as one of the few large industrial employers. Its jobs have tended to pay above the county average, and its purchases of wood chips and services reach well beyond the city limits.
Changes over time
Like most paper mills in the Northwest, the Toledo plant has gone through ownership changes, upgrades and periods of layoffs as markets shifted. Demand for containerboard has grown with online shopping, while newsprint and some other grades have declined across the industry.
A small city’s tax base
For Toledo, the mill is also a big share of the local property tax base. That ties city budgets to the health of one employer, which is why decisions made far away at a corporate headquarters are followed closely here.
Silas Kerrigan covers business, the tourism economy and household finance in Lincoln County.
