Chillicothe — As the former Pixelle paper mill transitions into a medical glove factory – with the potential for some paper making again, as well as other industrial uses – the team of local leaders focusing on the response to the shutdown is also transitioning.
The ‘paper mill response team’ held their weekly meeting on Tuesday afternoon, October 14th, 2025 – but started changing course from worrying about the future of the mill…to learning about its new future and hoping to guide it and other economic factors – as U.S. Medical Glove Company / U.S. Paper Mill Company gets set up.
One aspect was to invite a representative of mill workers to the meeting, to work on a $5.5M fund set aside by Pixelle / H.I.G. to benefit their laid-off workers. (Learn more about union and Pixelle employee considerations in two related stories.)
Ross County Commissioner David Glass spoke at Friday’s big news conference, and afterward told me that he is hoping to keep the “weekly cadence” of the team – but now, focusing on continuing local growth and what the long-term vision is. Glass has been the informal leader of the task force discussions.
One main focus on Tuesday was what kind of footprint will the glove company want to use for themselves. They own more than 450 acres now – but are using only a small part so far. What is their vision for their suggested mixed use for the rest of the site? (Mike Throne, representing the Chamber, said he has members clamoring for leases.)
Other thoughts that the team brought up in the 45-minute meeting:
- They are happy about the glove company from last week, but there are still 830 union jobs gone.
- The biggest win was to avoid having a “zombie site,” like how Glass described the GE plant in Circleville.
- They need contacts in U.S. Medical Glove Company for various aspects of the site, like jobs and redevelopment plans. (I suggested adding a tourism / museum component, especially regarding the iconic but unused smokestack.)
- The mayor and city administration have ideas on what they would like to see, especially since they have lost the most in employee income taxes and utility billing.
- OhioSE, the economic development agency for Southeast Ohio, sees that Chillicothe is an area to grow and is pushing resources to it.
- It can’t be overstated the timing of the strategizing and planning that is coming out of this turmoil.
- There have been several requests to buy medical gloves produced here, but there are no contacts in the company to set that up yet.
- The Chamber has offered to help with job fairs for the glove company to make hires.
- It’s “hurry up and wait” now – they’ve come a long way.
- We need to be careful to not overwhelm the glove company by offering too much assistance – that can bog down a developing situation.
And, I again pointed out that there is no problem to still call Chillicothe “Paper City” – we proudly call ourselves the “First Capital,” and that has been gone for much longer.
Again, learn more about laid-off Pixelle employee considerations in a related story, and how union members are doing after being laid off in another story, both of which include an interview video.
