In 1858 industrialist Judson Moss Bemis (1833-1921) founded J. M. Bemis & Co. (later Bemis Brothers Bag Company, then Bemis Company, Inc.) in Saint Louis, Missouri. By the early 20th century, the company operated eight bag factories in various parts of the United States, including the Seattle plant which opened in 1905 in today's SoDo neighborhood. The Seattle plant made burlap and cotton bags for grain, flour, feed, and many other products, and later expanded into the manufacture of paper bags. Textile production was phased out completely in 1978, the Seattle plant closed in 1993, and its production was transferred to the Vancouver, Washington, plant. Bemis Co. sold the property in 1995, which was later designated a Seattle Historical Site, and still stands at 65 Atlantic Street. Bemis Company was acquired by Amcor in 2019.
Pictured here is the original art for bags produced at the Bemis Seattle plant with the Green Star brand logo. The American wheat flour product was manufactured for Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha of Seattle.
Caption information source: http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/13973. Caption information source: https://web6.seattle.gov/DPD/HistoricalSite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=2147010519.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv74226
Credit: MOHAI, Bemis Company Records, 1994.15.6.6.2
