Founded in 1900 by Judson Moss Bemis, president of Bemis Brothers Bag Company. Bemis was a cotton mill town, planned by Albert Farwell Bemis and renowned architects Andrew Hepburn and Arthur Shurchiff. A self-contained town, Bemis consisted of a four story mill, worker housing, church, auditorium-theater, schools, company store, YMCA, public bath house, park, post office, and other commercial facilities.