Case Paper was founded in the early 1940s by Irv Schaffer and brothers Oscar and David Kosh, although its actual origins can be traced back to the mid-1930âs, when the founders met each other as salespeople for the Aronson Paper Company. Irv was the first to start his own business in partnership with steel exporter Livingston & Southard.
Shortly after the company was founded, the threat of shipments being torpedoed by German U-boats during WWII put an end to the plan of exporting paper. The rest, as they say, is paper history. Irv, Oscar, and David set up a domestic operation, naming the business after the wooden âcasesâ in which paper was shipped and stored in those days. Fortunately, the name âCase Paperâ won out over âTruck Paper,â âWarehouse Paper,â and âOver There in the Corner Paper.â Though paper was a bit difficult to source during the early years, Case Paper got by. The three men spent their time figuring out how to find and deliver paper to paper-starved printers (âHey buddy, can you spare a ream?â) from a converted 19th-century stable on Downing Street in New York City. Once the war ended, the trio moved the business to Greenwich Village, where they remained until 1958, when they built a 100,000-square-foot warehouse and headquarters in Long Island City, NY. Here the company expanded not only its space, but also its business operations to include slitters, sheeters, and guillotine cutters (a more humane alternative for converting paper than the traditional paper gallows). By the mid-1960s, Case Paper was expanding across New York like pigeons and pizza, only we were less liable to steal your French fries or expand your waistline.
Today, Case Paper has 7 locations across the U.S. and is a major supplier to the commercial printing and packaging industries, converting more paper and board than almost any other company in the country! It isnât easy, but we believe printers and packagers deserve to get precisely the paper and board they need, exactly when they need it. And thatâs why, while our paper and paperboard no longer come IN a case, weâll continue to be ON the Case.