Carlisle purchased Northern New York Utilities with a group of paper manufacturers, which allowed St. Regis Paper and the other involved paper mills to control their own supply of electric power. Acquiring Hanna Paper Corporation in 1921, Carlisle’s St. Regis Paper became the third largest paper manufacturing firm in the nation. Carlisle diversified St. Regis significantly when he led the company into the plastics field with the purchase of Panelyte Corporation in 1928. Carlisle also diversified the St. Regis product line.