Deferiet is the quintessential company town, as are many towns and communities across the North Country. In Deferiet, the ‘company’ was the St. Regis Paper Company, which employed hundreds of residents in its heyday.

Deferiet was also the site of an early paper union strike, which you can read more about here.

For descriptions of life growing up in Deferiet, explore Janet Zando’s memories.

This collection of photos comes from several different institutions, and helps illustrate what work at the paper mill was like from the late 1800s into the 1960s.