The Roberts Paper Mill stood on this site as a prominent example of Waltham’s thriving paper industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The prosperity generated by such mills could be seen at Gore Place on Main Street in Waltham, home of Christopher Gore, who operated another mill in the city. The first mill here was built by Nathan Upham in 1802. After a succession of owners, Stephen Roberts of Waltham purchased the mill in 1834, and his family made the enterprise successful. Fire destroyed the original mill in 1840, and the Roberts Paper Mill was built soon afterward with bronze rubble-stone masonry, corner stone quoins, and a pitched slate roof. Portions of the original foundation and masonry remain visible along the edge of the brook, as do fragments of the original dam on Stony Brook. The Roberts Company was the first in this country to manufacture tarred paper for building purposes, and asbestos paper and fine-grade hardware paper were also produced here. Under various owners, paper manufacturing continued at the mill well into the twentieth century.