Zellerbach Paper Company

Unfinished History

Text courtesy Jewish Museum of the American West

Origins of the Zellerbach Paper Company. Photograph of one of the company's horse drawn carriages.

In 1846, at the age of fourteen, Anthony Zellerbach came to America. He lived in Philadelphia for a while. In 1856, he headed West to San Francisco for a short while, and then moved to Moor’s Flat, Nevada County. There, Anthony Zellerbach opened a bank.

Anthony Zellerbach later moved back to San Francisco, where he began working in the paper wholesale and retail business. In 1882, Anthony and his son, Jacob Zellerbach, founded the Zellerbach Paper Company. Another son, Isadore, later joined them in the firm and the name was changed to A. Zellerbach & Sons.

By 1886, the business had grown so large as to require even larger quarters. Yet another son, Henry Zellerbach, joined the firm in 1896. In 1907, the firm’s name was changed back to Zellerbach Paper Company.

The unique products created by the Zellerback Company included folded paper towels that exposed a clean paper towel once one was withdrawn, the window envelope, and the cardboard egg carton.

Isadore Zellerbach took over leadership of the company upon his father’s death in 1911.

By the early 1920’s, there were Zellerbach warehouses all over the country, as-well-as Zellerbach paper mills and factories. In 1928, Isadore merged the family company with Crown Willamette Paper Company, creating a new firm: Crown Zellerbach Corporation. The Crown-Zellerbach Building is a San Francisco landmark, located at 1 Bush St. and 523 Market St.

In 2000, Crown-Zellerbach Corporation became a part of Georgia-Pacific. Today, Crown-Zellerbach Corporation/Georgia-Pacific is part of Koch Industries.

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