Herbert Henry Dow was born on February 26, 1866, and died on October 15, 1930. He was an American businessman who started the large company known as Dow Chemical. He graduated from the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio. He created many new chemical methods and products, including a way to extract bromine from brine water. He was also a successful business leader.

Biography

Herbert Henry Dow was born in 1866 in Belleville, Ontario, as the oldest child of American parents, Joseph Henry Dow, an inventor and mechanical engineer, and Sarah Bunnell, who were from Derby, Connecticut. When the baby boy was six weeks old, the family returned to their hometown. In 1878, they moved again to Cleveland to follow Joseph’s job with the Derby Shovel Manufacturing Company.

After finishing high school in 1884, Dow enrolled at the Case School of Applied Science (now known as Case Western Reserve University). While studying there, he joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He began researching the chemical makeup of brines in Ohio and nearby areas. He found that brine samples from Canton, Ohio, and Midland, Michigan, contained high amounts of bromine, a substance used in medicines and the new photographic industry. After graduating in 1888, Dow worked as a chemistry professor at Huron Street Hospital College in Cleveland for a year while continuing his research on extracting chemicals from brine.

In 1889, Dow received his first patent for a more cost-effective and efficient method to extract bromine. He quickly started his own company, but it went bankrupt within a year. His friends and colleagues were impressed by his work and helped him start the Midland Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan, in 1890. Dow continued his research and developed the Dow process, a method to extract bromine using electrolysis to convert bromide into bromine.

Dow wanted to expand his research on electrolysis to produce other chemicals. His financial supporters did not agree with his plans and fired him from the Midland Chemical Company. He continued his research and created a process to extract chlorine and caustic soda from sodium chloride.

After seeking funding in Cleveland, including from family friends and former classmates, Dow got support from James T. Pardee, Albert W. Smith, J. H. Osborn, and Cady Staley. In 1895, Dow moved his family to Massillon, Ohio, and founded the Dow Process Company to develop his method. The next year, he returned to Midland and created the Dow Chemical Company as a replacement for the Dow Process Company. The Dow Process Company was started with 57 original owners. Within three years, his new company bought the Midland Chemical Company.

With his new company and technology, Dow produced bromine very cheaply and sold it in the United States for 36 cents per pound. At the time, the German government supported a bromine cartel, the Deutsche Bromkonvention, which had almost all the control over bromine supply and sold it in the U.S. for 49 cents per pound. The Germans warned that they would flood the market with cheap bromine if Dow tried to sell abroad. In 1904, Dow ignored the warning and began exporting bromine to England at the lower price. A few months later, a representative from the cartel visited Dow and told him to stop exporting.

Unafraid, Dow continued exporting to England and Japan. The cartel responded by selling bromine in the U.S. at 15 cents per pound to drive Dow out of business. Unable to compete with this low price, Dow ordered his agents to buy large amounts of German bromine at the low cost. The company repackaged the bromine and sold it to Europe, even to German companies, at 27 cents per pound. The cartel was confused about the sudden demand for bromine in the U.S. and where the cheap bromine was coming from. They suspected their own members were breaking their agreement to keep prices high. The cartel continued lowering prices in the U.S., first to 12 cents per pound and then to 10.5 cents per pound. Eventually, the cartel realized Dow’s strategy and could not keep selling below cost.

Dow Chemical Company focused on research and soon extracted many more chemicals from brine. World War I created a need for chemicals, as Britain blocked German ports, which were home to many of the world’s largest chemical suppliers. Dow Chemical quickly filled the gap by producing magnesium for incendiary flares, phenol and monochlorobenzene for explosives, and bromine for medicines and tear gas. By 1918, 90% of the company’s production supported the war effort. During this time, the company also created the diamond logo, which is still used today.

After the war, Dow studied the uses of magnesium, which the company had in large amounts. He discovered it could be used to make automobile pistons that improved speed and fuel efficiency. These pistons were used in racing cars, including the 1921 winner of the Indianapolis 500.

Dow married Grace Anna Ball, a teacher in Midland, on November 16, 1892. The couple had seven children between 1894 and 1908: Helen, Ruth, Willard, Osborn, Alden, Margaret, and Dorothy Darling. One child, Osborn Curtis, died from spinal meningitis before his third birthday in 1902. Willard became a chemist with his father’s company and later became chief executive in 1930. Alden became one of the nation’s leading architects.

The family home was shared with Herbert Dow’s parents, Joseph and Sarah Dow, and his sisters, Helen and Mary Dow.

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Commemoration

In 1899, Dow created the Dow Gardens in Midland, Michigan, as a personal project on the land where they lived.

Herbert Henry Dow High School in Midland, Michigan, opened in 1968 and is named after Dow. He received the Perkin Medal in 1930.

His home in Midland, called the Herbert H. Dow House, was named a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Grace created the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation in 1936 to honor her husband, Herbert. The foundation aimed to improve the quality of life for people in Midland and Michigan. Since its creation, nearly half a billion dollars has been given to support projects and programs in the state. The foundation’s offices are located in a building on the grounds of the Dow home and gardens.