Class 2000
Zenas Crane
The internationally known Crane and Company of Dalton was founded in 180l by the man we honor tonight, Zenas Crane. His father Stephen had earlier sold currency type paper to Paul Revere for use as the American Colonies’ first paper money, and, in 1820, Zenas provided the Massachusetts government with paper for its executive proclamations and other official state documents.
In 1842, Zenas Crane retired and handed over operations to his son, Zenas Jr. About this time, the company began making banknote paper for which it has become world renowned. A major technological breakthrough occurred in 1884 when the firm developed a method for embedding silk threads in the notes as a deterrent to counterfeiting.
In 1865, Zenas Crane Jr. traveled to Europe to learn the techniques of fine paper making, and soon Tiffany’s, Bailey Banks and Biddle, and other fine U.S. stores were all carrying Crane stationery. In 1879, W. Murray Crane won a heated competition for the contract to supply the U. S. Government with its currency paper, a contract Crane has held ever since. During this period, most paper mills turned to wood pulp, but Crane elected not to, feeling its role was to continue making fine rag paper.
In 1995, Crane began producing watermarked paper for the recently redesigned U.S. paper money. In 1995, Lansing E. Crane, of the firm’s sixth generation, became the Crane CEO.Crane’s currency paper is used by countries throughout the world and its fine papers are recognized as being of the very highest quality. Zenas Crane, founder of this company, clearly deserves to be among the first class of inductees in the Western Massachusetts Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.