Stanislas Jean-Baptiste Rolland was awarded the Grand Prix de la production de papier at the 1902 World Fair in Paris. Wishing to expand his Saint-Jérôme operations, the same year he acquired land on either side of the Rivière du Nord in Sainte-Adèle, where a 30-metre waterfall provided an ideal location in which to build a dam and an iron-reinforced wooden tube of eight feet in diameter to run the pulp and paper mill.
Jean Rolland, Mayor of Sainte-Adèle from 1916 to 1918, operated the mills, also known as Les Moulins du Nord. Like all single industry towns, Mont-Rolland experienced the ups and downs of the factory until its closure in 1990. With the help of the government, a new use was found for these heritage buildings.