The Dow Chemical Company history

1898- Dow’s first commercial-scale production of bleach begins.

By 1900, Herbert Dow had become one of the United States' leading scientists and the Dow Chemical Company was one of the largest producers of chemicals in the nation.

Dow originally sold only bleach and potassium bromide, achieving a bleach output of 72 tons a day in 1902.

In 1905, German bromide producers began dumping bromides at low cost in the United States in an effort to prevent Dow from expanding its sales of bromides in Europe.

1906: The company produces their first agricultural product.

1908 – The agricultural chemicals division is established based on a spray for fruit trees.

The petrochemical industry received its chief impetus in 1913 from the development of the thermal-cracking process by which crude petroleum was refined.

1916 – Dow first markets calcium chloride, magnesium metal, and acetylsalicylic acid.

1918 – The company adopts its diamond trademark.

By 1920 Dow Chemical was selling $4 million worth of bulk chemicals like chlorine, calcium chloride, salt, and aspirin every year.

The Dowmetal pistons were used heavily in racing vehicles, and the 1921 winner of the Indianapolis 500 used the Dowmetal pistons in his vehicle.

1928 – Styrene and Saran are developed.

1929 – Dow hires its first woman researcher, Sylvia Stoesser.

By 1930 sales had climbed to $15 million and the company stock had split four times.

1933: Dow begins extracting bromine from seawater.

1934 – The Ethyl-Dow plant begins the first commercial extraction of bromine from seawater.

The introduction of catalytic cracking in 1937 and increased supplies of natural gas brought further expansion of the industry.

1940 – Dow purchases land near Freeport, Texas, and begins to construct a plant.

In 1942, Dow began its foreign expansion with the formation of Dow Chemical of Canada in Sarnia, Ontario to produce styrene for use in styrene-butadiene synthetic rubber.

1943 – Dow and Corning Glass form Dow Corning, a joint venture to create silicone products.

The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Midland, MI.“

1948 – Plastics reach 20 percent of Dow’s total sales.

In the year of Willard's death, 1949, sales were $200 million, but ten years later they had nearly quadrupled.

1952: Dow establishes Ashai-Dow in Japan, its first subsidiary outside North America.

Based largely on its growing plastics business, Dow opened a consumer products division beginning with Saran wrap in 1953.

1959 – Dow Corning Corporation implements technology to manufacture hyperpure polycrystalline silicon to produce materials for computer chips, and the first fully integrated polycrystalline silicon plant is established in Hemlock, Michigan.

In 1960, Dow purchased Allied Labs, thus entering the world of pharmaceuticals.

1961 – Dow purchases a manufacturing site in Terneuzen, The Netherlands.

1964: Dow exceeds $1 billion in annual sales.

1965 – Dow’s one-shot measles vaccine is introduced.

Beginning in 1966 the company became the target of anti-Vietnam War protests.

1970: The company introduces an automotive product line.

1972: Dow introduces the insecticide Lorsban.

1973: Dow becomes the first foreign industrial company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In 1974, however, the same Forbes reporter was subjected to criticism by CEO Carl Gerstacker because Dow had a record year.

The year 1975 was followed by an oversupply of petrochemicals and a business slowdown, and the company's earnings began to slide.

By 1978 a change of leadership was deemed necessary; Gerstacker's retirement from the board of directors was the end of an era.

In 1980, after a change in leadership and reorganization of the company, Dow’s sales exceeded $10 billion for the first time.

In 1981 Merrell Drug was purchased, increasing involvement in Pharmaceuticals.

In 1983 the write-off of two ethylene plants and a caustic soda plant caused earnings to drop 16 percent.

In 1984, Dow purchased Texize, which boasted a strong line of detergent products, from Morton Thiokol.

1986 – Dow ranks as the world’s largest producer of thermoplastics.

With the dollar continuing to fall and the world economy humming, the spread between raw material costs and final prices expanded until the firm's plastics business was making a record 25 to 30 percent on sales during mid-1987.

By 1988 commodity chemicals accounted for just 53 percent of the firm's $13.3 billion in sales.

Total Dow sales for 1989 reached $17.6 billion, an increase of $7 billion over five years earlier, with profits up to $2.5 billion.

According to a Chicago Tribune article from May 2, 1990, at the time Agent Orange was already clearly linked to five different types of cancer and several chronic diseases (Millensen, 1990)

1992 – Dow’s INSITE™ constrained geometry catalyst technology is introduced.

The fund would only last until December 31, 1994.

In 1995 Dow sold its stake in Marion Merrel Dow to Hoechst for $7.1 billion.

1996: Du Pont Dow Elastomers, a Dow-du Pont joint venture, begins operations.

1997: Dow buys Eli Lilly's share in DowElanco.

In 1998 its consumer products subsidiary, known as DowBrands, was sold to S.C. Johnson & Son.

At the beginning of August 1999, Dow agreed to purchase Union Carbide Corp. (UCC) for $9.3 billion in stock.

In 2000 it acquired General Latex Chemical Corporation and Flexible Products Company, both manufacturers of foam products.

At the end of 2001, Dow took over du Pont as the largest chemicals company in the United States.

In June 2002, Dow was awarded the National Medal of Technology "for the vision to create great science and innovative technology in the chemical industry and the positive impact that commercialization of this technology has had on society," according to the official citation.

2004 1 Andrew Liveris begins his 14-year tenure as Chairman and CEO, transforming Dow from a commodity chemicals manufacturer into one powered by science, driven by innovation, and delivering solutions to the world.

In 2005, a lawsuit was filed by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange against Dow and Monsanto Co., which also supplied Agent Orange to the military.

On August 31, 2006, Dow announced that it planned to close facilities at five locations:

On April 12, 2007, Dow dismissed two senior executives for "unauthorized discussions with third parties about the potential sale of the company". The two figures are executive vice president Romeo Kreinberg, and director and former CFO J. Pedro Reinhard.

On July 10, 2008, Dow agreed to purchase all of the common equity interest of Rohm and Haas Co. for $15.4 billion, which equated to $78 per share.

However, on January 6, 2009 Dow Chemical announced they were in talks with other parties who could be interested in a major joint venture with the company.

In 2010 eight former executives of Union Carbide India Ltd. were found guilty of death by negligence.

Dow legally became a contractor for the government, which becomes important in the eventual legal battles (Hynes, 2011). The most controversial one was Agent Orange.

Another use was to kill vegetation and open up supply lines (Frey, 2013).

In the fourth quarter of 2014, Dow announced new operating segments in response to its previously announced leadership changes.

On December 11, 2015, Dow announced that it would merge with DuPont, in an all-stock deal.

2016 – Dow completes a strategic ownership restructure of Dow Corning and becomes 100% owner of Dow Corning’s silicones business.

Dow Chemical CEO Andrew N. Liveris became executive chairman of the new entity, while DuPont CEO Edward D. Breen became CEO. In January 2017, the merger was pushed back a second time pending regulatory approvals.

In 2019, DowDuPont de-merged, forming Dow Inc.. The spin-off was completed on April 1, 2019, at which time Dow Inc. became an independent, publicly traded company, and the direct parent company of The Dow Chemical Company.