A common quality problem in papermaking is “curl” which is defined as the out-of-plane deviation relative to the flat shape. To improve curl control, more knowledge is needed about the mechanisms behind it. The magnitude of curl can be influenced in the dryer section of paper machines. For example, in one-sided drying the side closer to the heated cylinder is exposed to a higher temperature than the opposite side. This influences the rate of drying and also the elastic modulus and drying- induced loads. These parameters influence the magnitude of curl. The purpose of this work is to characterize the effect of changing the drying temperature and time on both the tensile stiffness and the drying load for restraint drying of single-ply paperboard. The results indicate that two competing parameters control the value of the drying load. These are the relaxation rate (which is a function of temperature) and the change in moisture ratio. The tensile stiffness at restraint drying shows exponential increase with the reduction of moisture ratio. A combination of drying temperatures affects the drying-induced load. The magnitude of the tensile stiffness, after restraint drying, appeared to be unaffected by the drying history at approximately the same moisture ratio. The results will serve for further work on the modeling of immediate curl of paper upon the removal of the restraining forces and moments.