Papermaking has taken place in Renkum since 1598, with the establishment of The Bock. Harten was established as a paper mill in 1720. It was bought by Van Gelder & Zonen in 1907, who established a new mill, Renkum 2, in 1912. It featured two paper machines, mostly producing newsprint. They remained in use until 1979, when both were closed down and replaced with a new paper machine, PM2. Van Gelder filed for bankruptcy, but operations in Renkum continued with the independent company Parenco B.V.