Our History
In 1904, Albert K. Hoodwin began manufacturing paper boxes on the second floor of an old factory building in Michigan City, Indiana.
He rapidly expanded the business and in 1920 moved the business to an old church building and then to a former shirt factory where the business remains today. Twenty-three years after starting his box business, Albert was killed in a train accident. His wife Lillian, then took over as president until their sons, Lou and Fred Hoodwin, joined the firm in the 1940’s. Lou Hoodwin then sold the company to his son Albert A. Hoodwin in 1993.
Over the years, accounts as well as box types have changed. In the early days, half of the business was in manufacturing punch boards, push cards, and seal cards. As punch cards lost their popularity in the 1940’s, the company switched its manufacturing over to high-end hand-made satin-lined boxes for jewelry. Michigan City Paper Box continued to manufacture the Cadillac line of jewelry boxes until the 1960’s when costume jewelry became popular and required less expensive, mass-produced cotton-filled jewelry boxes. Customers of the past were local manufacturers, but today, we produce packaging for worldwide accounts such as the Wal-Mart, Gap, K-Mart, Banana Republic, Kohl’s, Lord and Taylor and Coldwater Creek.
Through continued high tech automation, and a longstanding reputation for top quality boxes and superior customer service, Michigan City Paper Box Company is the premier manufacturer of cotton-filled jewelry boxes in the world!