[3] Behrend changed the name of the company before the first mill even opened in honor of his father's papermills in Germany.
The company expanded by buying a mill in Oswego, New York, that was making copier paper exclusively for Xerox.
[4] After a failed takeover by Paul Bilzerian and brothers William and Earle I. Mack (sons of New Jersey real estate developer H. Bert Mack),[5] Hammermill was purchased in 1986, by International Paper Company, with customer services and operations moving to their Memphis headquarters in 1988.
[3][6] On October 23, 1967, an employee of Hammermill's Lock Haven location opened fire at the mill.
The employee, 40-year-old Leo Held, killed five and injured four of his co-workers before leaving the plant and opening fire at two more locations within Clinton County.