The Rolland Company at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893

The Rolland Company was the only one of 140 exhibitors and manufacturers to win three awards in different categories at the Chicago World’s Fair. Only one other firm, a U.S. company, won as many on the same occasion. Saint-Jérôme-based Rolland stood out from other undertakings from all over the world—as the Fair organizers pointed out, “[t]he winning of three awards [was] a most unusual record for any company.”

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Image of the Palace of Manufactures

ROLLAND PAPER exhibited in this building.

The exhibits of Rolland Paper Company could be found on the main floor on the “Palace of Manufactures” among a group of Canadian exhibits classified as “manufactures”—dyes, stationery, upholstery, ceramics, stained glass, carvings, silks, and woollen goods.

Nearby were a few companies still known today: Barber Ellis Co., Brown Bros., in the paper group; Joseph McCausland, a stained glass manufacturer; Belding and Corticelli, the thread people; Breithaupt Leather Co., and Beardmore & Co., leather companies. Among this group of about 140 Canadian exhibitors, ROLLAND PAPER was the only one to win three awards.

Group 89, in which ROLLAND PAPER exhibited, covered typewriters, paper, blank books and stationery. In this entire group, only one other firm (a U.S. exhibitor of printed stationery) won as many as three awards. The group contained exhibitors from the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

This record is so unusual that we checked all Canadian award-winners with the result that it appears that ROLLAND PAPER was the only Canadian company to win three awards in any category throughout this Fair.

The winning of three awards is a most unusual record for any company in any category at this Fair.