Shore Paper Box
In 1953, Baltimore Paper Box company was closing its Eastern Shore location. After some negotiating, one of its employees (Vernon Taylor) convinced the company to let him make a daily trip to Baltimore via the Chesapeake Ferry and return with a trailer full of boxes for the shirt factories in the area. That same year, Jacob Bernstein started Pocomoke Paper Box Company in Pocomoke City, and hired Vernon as plant manager.
In 1957 Pocomoke Paper Box Company was purchased by the Watson family and relocated to Mardela Springs, MD where it started doing business as Shore Paper Box Co. When the Watson family was ready to sell, Vernon purchased the business from them. Sharon Taylor Steckman, Vernon’s daughter, grew up learning about paper boxes from birth and formally started working for her father’s company in 1984. She became an owner in 1992. Mary Thompson joined the company in 1987 working the floor of the plant where she learned how to operate all of the machinery. Shortly after, she learned the business side of the company and became the general manager, then vice president, and became part owner in 2012. In 2020, Shore Paper Box became a woman-owned company. Currently, Mary is the vice president and general manager for Shore Paper Box.
Over time, as the number of shirt manufacturers on the Eastern Shore dwindled, Shore Paper Box branched out to service the packaging needs of other industries including healthcare, jewelry and gifts, stationery, confectionery, and pharmaceuticals. The company makes custom boxes for each individual customer’s needs not only on the Eastern Shore, but worldwide.
“If it can fit in a box, we can do it! We have manufactured boxes for packaging everything from knives, rubber stamps, and ID cards to tools and even teeth,”
—Sharon Steckman, Shore Paper Box Owner
