The Former Fusion Paperboard Plant (Part 1)
Following a Dead Rail Line onto 418 Acres
I’ll never forget the day my friend J and I wandered onto that sprawling 400-acre property, following the path of a disused rail line. It felt like stepping into a forgotten world where time had simply stopped. At first, we passed by the front building without giving it much thought. J mentioned there wasn’t much to see inside, so we moved on. Little did I know, years later, I’d discover that the building was a treasure trove of abandoned saw machinery and other relics, left behind as if frozen in time.
But that day, our curiosity led us further into the property. We stumbled upon an older structure tucked along the fence line of Papermill Pond. It didn’t look like much at first glance—just another weathered building in a sea of overgrown grass and rusting metal. We decided to take a closer look. Inside, we found black plastic piping snaking through the space, and then, to our amazement, an enormous flywheel standing tall and proud, as if it had been waiting for us to find it.
It was incredible to see something so massive and mechanical still intact, untouched by scrappers or vandals. We couldn’t believe our luck. We snapped a few photos, marveling at the sheer scale of it, before moving on to explore the main manufacturing plant building.
After tugging on a few stubborn doors along the metal catwalk outside, we finally found one that gave way. Stepping inside felt like entering a labyrinth of color—pipes in every shade of red, green, and more snaked in every direction, creating a chaotic yet mesmerizing network. It was like walking into the veins of some giant, dormant machine.
We made our way upstairs, where we were greeted by another massive piece of machinery. It loomed over us, swallowing up an enormous amount of space. Neither of us could quite figure out its role in the paperboard-making process, but its sheer size was enough to leave us in awe. After a moment of quiet admiration, we moved on, eager to see what else the building held.
Deeper inside, we stumbled upon a darker section of the ground floor. There, stretching out before us, was an enormous paperboard-rolling machine. It was so long it seemed to span nearly the length of a football field. I’d heard rumors that the machine had been sold, but on that first visit, it was still there—or at least parts of it were. I didn’t venture into the shadowy crevices of the machine at the time, but even from a distance, it was a sight to behold.
I couldn’t help but imagine what it must have been like when the machine was in operation. Picture it: massive amounts of evaporated water pouring out as the paperboard dried and rolled down the line, transforming recycled material into something new. This place wasn’t just a factory—it was a recycling powerhouse. It turned over 130,000 tons of used boxes every year into food-quality paperboard sheets. It was a reminder of how much ingenuity and effort went into creating something as seemingly simple as a cardboard box.
What the Site Actually Contains
In the quiet village of Versailles, in New London County, Connecticut, the Fusion Paperboard CT LLC site at 130 Inland Road is a sprawling testament to industrial history. The parcel runs to roughly 418 acres, part of about 500 acres the company held in Versailles, and it carries the bones of a mill that ran here for a century and a half. At its centre is a main manufacturing plant of about 244,000 square feet.
Among these structures are the pump house for the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), the powerhouse building, and the raw water intake building. There’s also the former old mill building, a relic of an earlier era, and the flocculator building, which played a critical role in water treatment. For those unfamiliar, a flocculator uses special chemicals to bind suspended particles in water, creating larger clumps called flocs. These flocs are then removed through sedimentation or flotation, leaving cleaner water behind—a process that was essential to the mill’s operations.
The site’s water treatment system was extensive. Northwest of the main manufacturing building, three aeration stabilization basins helped manage wastewater, while two polishing ponds or lagoons sat to the west. South of the plant, near the Little River, stood the flocculator/clarifier, a key component in keeping the mill’s operations environmentally sound.
The water treatment system was extensive, and the numbers give a sense of the scale. Three aeration stabilization basins sit northwest of the main manufacturing building, each about 708 feet long by 306 feet wide and 13.5 feet deep. Two polishing ponds, or lagoons, sit to the west, each 350 by 200 feet and 7 feet deep. The flocculator and clarifier stand south of the plant, across the Little River.
But the property’s features didn’t stop there. Two former landfills, two sludge pits, and a railroad spur hint at the site’s industrial scale. There were also former septic tanks, leach fields, and even a drum storage area. Aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) and a shallow transformer vault added to the complexity of the operation. And let’s not forget the industrial supply well, which played its part in keeping the mill running.
The Water That Shapes the Site
The Fusion Paperboard site isn’t just defined by its industrial structures—it’s also shaped by the water that surrounds it. The property is nestled among several bodies of water, each playing a role in the mill’s history and the local ecosystem.
To the north lies Papermill Pond, a 77-acre man-made impoundment of open water fringed by palustrine wetlands, a serene contrast to the industrial remnants beside it. The Little River, whose headwaters begin at the Hampton Reservoir in Hampton, flows south into the pond and leaves it over a dam spillway. Old Stone Mill Brook runs along the eastern edge of the site, and an unnamed tributary from the north passes under the parking lot through a culvert before reaching Papermill Pond and the river.
About a mile downstream the Little River enters Versailles Pond, a 57-acre impoundment held back by a dam at its southern end that was reportedly first built in 1865 — a year before the mill itself. From there the river runs on and discharges into the Shetucket River roughly half a mile south of the pond.
From Versailles Pond, the Little River continues its journey, eventually merging with the Shetucket River about half a mile to the south. But the water story doesn’t end there. To the north of the property, an unnamed tributary flows discreetly beneath the parking lot, carried through a culvert before joining Papermill Pond and the Little River. And to the southeast, there’s yet another unnamed pond, adding to the network of waterways that define this landscape.
A Century and a Half of Owners
The Versailles Mill site has a rich and layered history, shaped by over a century of industrial evolution and changing ownership. It all began in 1866 with the Inland Mill at Versailles, which operated for 50 years before becoming the Inland Paperboard Company in 1916. Over the decades, the mill passed through the hands of several major players in the industry. The Federal Paperboard Company took over in 1942, followed by International Paper in 1996, and then Sprague Paperboard, Inc. (a subsidiary of Caraustar Industries, Inc.) in 1999. Finally, in 2006, the property was acquired by Cascades Boxboard Group – Connecticut LLC, now known as Fusion Paperboard.
The site itself has seen significant changes over the years. The original Inland Mill was built near the Little River, but in 1962, the Federal constructed a new Sprague Mill just to the north. For a decade, both mills operated side by side until the old mill ceased production in 1972. It stood dormant for years before being demolished in 1988, marking the end of an era.
Adjacent to the mill, a carton plant was established around 1934, adding another layer to the site's industrial story: eight interconnected buildings and a garage. Federal occupied it from the mid-1950s until June 1991, producing folded printed cartons. That June, Oak Tree Packaging bought the carton plant property and carried on the same work, turning paper and carton stock into packaging on lithographic presses. From 1991 to 1998 the Brooklyn Cooperage Company leased two of the buildings to print folded cartons as well. In August 1997 Oak Tree merged with Caraustar and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Caraustar Industries. In December 2010 Caraustar announced it would close the carton plant, and it did so by 30 January 2011.
The landfills tell their own story. Federal used two solid waste disposal areas on either side of Route 138, neither of them permitted. The smaller one, about 1.3 acres in an old quarry south of the road, took primary clarifier sludge for a short stretch in the mid-1970s. The main landfill, roughly 11 acres north of the road and immediately east of the Town of Sprague's own municipal disposal area, opened around 1964 and received clarifier sludge and rejects — bits of plastic, wire, banding, rocks and dirt. When International Paper acquired the property in 1996, the state determined the on-site landfill would have to be closed under an administrative consent order. On 30 July 1997 the Connecticut DEP issued Administrative Order WC5229 to International Paper covering the landfill and the assessment of sediment in Versailles Pond; it was modified and reissued to Sprague Paperboard on 20 April 1999 as Administrative Order WC5271.
The Last Year
On 23 July 2014, Fusion Paperboard announced the termination of all manufacturing operations, telling the state the Versailles Mill would close on 22 September. It did not last that long. Manufacturing ceased on 12 August and the plant was shut down the following day, putting 145 people out of work. The closure left a financial hole behind it: Fusion owed the town more than $625,000 in unpaid property taxes and the state Department of Economic and Community Development $2.02 million on a loan it had taken to upgrade the facility. On 11 September, Fusion Paperboard Connecticut LLC, Fusion Pak LLC and Fusion Paperboard U.S. Incorporated filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Delaware. A state pollution abatement order was still outstanding.
The mill’s final year of operation also cast a shadow over its legacy. In 2014, it produced 275,213 pounds of polycyclic aromatic compounds, earning the dubious distinction of being the state’s top polluter that year. It was a stark reminder of the environmental challenges that often accompany industrial operations.
By 2017, the town of Sprague had acquired the property due to Fusion’s failure to pay taxes. Since then, the town has been exploring ways to breathe new life into the sprawling site. Ideas for the land include subdividing it into smaller parcels to maximize tax revenue. Potential uses range from multi-family housing and bike trails to agricultural projects and commercial solar arrays. There’s even talk of leveraging the existing rail lines for aerospace industry needs.
As of 2025, part of the property has already found a new purpose: a truck repair business now operates on the site, a small but meaningful step in repurposing the land. The future of the rest of the property remains uncertain, but one thing is clear—the former Fusion Paperboard is poised for transformation, a new chapter in its long and complex history.
Stay tuned for Part 2 in this three-part series of the former Fusion Paperboard plant, where we venture inside the halls and spaces where recycled cardboard pulp becomes sheets of food packaging and cardboard. ♼
Were you one of the 145 people who lost a job when the Versailles Mill shut down on 12 August 2014? Did you run the Inverformer, work the wastewater plant and the lagoons, drive the reel crane, or print cartons at Oak Tree across the road? Anyone who worked for Federal Paperboard, International Paper, Sprague Paperboard or Cascades carries a piece of a story that runs back to 1866, and photographs from inside the mill while it was still running are almost impossible to find. If you have shift photos, product samples, company newsletters or simply remember what the place sounded like at full speed, I would be honoured to put it on the record here.
Sources:
- Weston Solutions, Inc. / U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Removal Program Preliminary Assessment / Site Investigation Forms for the Fusion Paperboard CT LLC Site, Versailles, New London County, Connecticut (site inspection 21 January 2016). EPA Region I Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team.
- Benson, A. (2016, January 25). EPA: Fusion Paperboard released the highest amount of toxins in Connecticut in 2014. The Norwich Bulletin. norwichbulletin.com.
- Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. (1997, July 30). Administrative Order WC5229 to International Paper; modified and reissued to Sprague Paperboard, Inc. as Administrative Order WC5271, 20 April 1999.
- AECOM. (2013, April). Papermill Pond Background Assessment Report; and (2015) Sprague Mill, Versailles Pond Baseline Human Health Risk Assessment and Baseline Ecological Risk Assessment.
- SECOR International Inc. (2000, December). Solid Waste Disposal Area Zone of Influence Investigation, Versailles Mill, Sprague, Connecticut.
- HydroQual, Inc. (1995, January 13). Water Quality Study of Little River and Versailles Pond.
- North American graphic paper and paperboard mill closures, 2014–2022 (Fusion Paperboard, Sprague, CT — coated recycled paperboard, August 2014).
- Town of Sprague. Fusion Paperboard site plan, showing the manufacturing plant, powerhouse, aeration stabilization basins, polishing ponds, landfills and rail spur across Sprague and Lisbon.
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