Gaylord Container Corporation

Based in Deerfield, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago, Gaylord Container completed its initial public offering in July 1988 and was listed on the American Stock Exchange.

[6][7] Gaylord Container was a by-product of the hostile takeover of Crown Zellerbach by Sir James Goldsmith in July 1985,[8][9] which resulted in the break-up of the San Francisco-based forest products corporation in May 1986.

At its initiation in 1986, Gaylord Container had three paper mills (containerboard), located in Antioch, California, Bogalusa, Louisiana, and Baltimore, Ohio, with converting plants in twelve states.

The Antioch mill in northern California (midway between San Francisco and Sacramento) had used 100% recycle pulp since 1977, and had a gas turbine co-generation facility, installed in 1982.

The mill and adjacent converting complex was opened in 1957 by Crown Zellerbach to use pulp from British Columbia to make tissue, toweling, multiwall bags, and linerboard for the northern California market.

Despite a $50 million infusion to revive the 1949 facility, problems with wood chip supplies and prices on the West Coast, antiquated equipment, and air quality issues forced the east mill to shut down within three years, in February 1991, eliminating 320 jobs.