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Du Pont Legacy Today’S Industrial Giant Got Its Start As a Gunpowder Mill on the Banks of Delaware’S Brandywine River, Thanks to Enterprising Frenchman E.I

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Du Pont Legacy Today’S Industrial Giant Got Its Start As a Gunpowder Mill on the Banks of Delaware’S Brandywine River, Thanks to Enterprising Frenchman E.I BOSS_summer10_1:Layout 1 6/1/10 3:05 PM Page 16 The Du pont legacy Today’s industrial giant got its start as a gunpowder mill on the banks of Delaware’s Brandywine River, thanks to enterprising Frenchman E.I. du Pont 16 BOSS ᔢ SUMMER 2010 BOSS_summer10_1:Layout 1 6/1/10 3:05 PM Page 17 BY SUE DE PASQUALE HE AIR WAS CRISP ONE AUTUMN DAY IN 1800, WHEN ELEUTHÈRE IRÉNÉE T“E.I.” DU PONT AND HIS HUNTING COMPANION, THE FORMER FRENCH PATRIOT MAJ. LOUIS DE TOUSARD, TOOK A BREAK FROM HUNTING. THEY’D RUN OUT OF AMM- UNITION. SO THE DUO MADE A QUICK TRIP TO THE COUNTRY STORE NEAR TOUSARD’S FARM IN WILMINGTON, DEL., TO BUY MORE GUNPOWDER. Du Pont was dismayed by the in their newly adopted nation. high price and low quality of the Today, more than 200 years after gunpowder he found. Tousard was E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. nonplused. Everyone knew that established its first gunpowder quality gunpowder had to be mill on the banks of Delaware’s imported from England, he told Brandywine River, the DuPont name his young companion, who had just is synonymous with one of the most arrived in the United States from successful industrial enterprises in his native France. the world. The company that E. I. E.I. du Pont sensed an opportuni - du Pont started with a single gun - ty. He asked to tour an American powder mill went on to grow expo - powder plant and Tousard soon nentially and to diversify—to plas - obliged, with a visit to the Lane- tics, dyes and synthetic materials Decatur factory in Frankford, Pa. The (leading the 20th-century polymer 29-year-old du Pont had trained at revolution with such products as the side of renowned chemist up-and-coming nation where gun - nylon, neoprene, Teflon, Mylar and Antoine Lavoisier at Essonnes, powder was essential—for everything Lycra). Today DuPont operates in France’s national powder works. It from keeping wild animals at bay to more than 70 countries, employing didn’t take him long to find problems blasting out roads, to supplying the more than 5,000 scientists and engi - with every aspect of the American fledgling military with munitions. neers and generating $31.8 billion manufacturing process—from refin - Irénée (whose name means “peace”) in annual revenues. ing saltpeter, to its mixing with char - approached his father, Pierre Samuel, coal, to the pressing and glazing of and elder brother, Victor, with a rec - Portrait of E.I. du Pont, far left. Above, the various ingredients. ommendation: The du Pont family the historical Du Pont seal; during For the enterprising E.I. du Pont, should stake its fortunes on becom - the company's first century, the U.S. the future was clear. America was an ing the finest producer of gunpowder military was a leading customer. WWW . DIXONVALVE . COM SUMMER 2010 ᔢ BOSS 17 BOSS_summer10_1:Layout 1 6/1/10 3:05 PM Page 18 Prized for its high quality, Du Pont gunpowder quickly proved popular among hunters, left. Above, an early photograph of the Du Pont corporate headquarters in Wilmington, Del. E.I. du Pont’s passion for raising sheep, below right, also proved profitable, through a woolen mill constructed on his brother’s side of the Brandywine. AS A CHILD GROWING UP IN PRE - Pierre Samuel (he was imprisoned at powder works, he puzzled the locals by revolutionary France, Eleuthère Irénée one point and narrowly avoided the erecting a series of trapezoidal buildings seemed unlikely to achieve great guillotine); so, on Oct. 2, 1799, the along the riverbank. Each had heavy things—at least to his father, an outspo - elder du Pont, Irénée, Victor and their stone walls, a thin wooden roof (con - ken and influential intellectual and gov - young families set sail for a new life in structed without nails, lest they create a ernment economist. Young Irénée, the United States aboard the ill- spark), and a lower front side that front - marred by a red birthmark on his left equipped American Eagle . The journey, ed the river. Separating the buildings cheek, was quiet and introspective, the which stretched on for nearly three prevented the potential for a chain reac - exact opposite of his larger-than-life months, was harrowing; the ravenous tion in the event of an explosion, he rea - father and charming brother Victor, travelers reportedly dined on rats on soned—and the force of a blast would be who would serve in the diplomatic more than one occasion. But once they channeled out over the water. corps in New York. reached land on Jan. 1, 1800, the dawn For the latest equipment and trade The compliant Irénée did defy his of a new century, the family’s fortunes secrets, and to raise capital, Irénée father at age 20, however, when he fell quickly improved. returned to France in 1801, where in love with Sophie Madeleine Dalmas, After scouting a variety of locations Napoleon (eager to decrease U.S. the 16-year-old daughter of a Paris for his Eleutherian Mills, Irénée wisely dependence on England’s exports as the shopkeeper. The elder du Pont was hor - opted to set up shop on Delaware’s new French leader) was only too happy rified: he had risen from toiling as the Brandywine River. The river’s rapidly to supply whatever the du Pont family son of a watchmaker to being an advis - moving waters (averaging a flow of needed, at cost. The first barrel of er to the king of France; his son could 4,500 gallons per second) would offer “Brandywine Powder” was sold in not marry so far beneath his station! an ideal source of power, the area’s spring 1804. Thanks in part to a lauda - But his youngest son persisted, even plentiful willow trees could be harvest - tory letter from Thomas Jefferson, fighting two duels for Sophie’s hand, ed for charcoal, key to black powder, requesting the gunpowder for the War and eventually Pierre Samuel relented. and the site was sparsely populated (five Department, sales of du Pont gunpow - Irénée and Sophie were married on miles north of Wilmington, De.), highly der (renamed Du Pont in 1808) quickly Oct. 26, 1791. Their marriage would desirable for a business where explo - took off. In less than a decade, with the prove to be a loving and productive sions posed a daily threat. advent of the War of 1812, annual sales union, yielding seven children. From the outset, Irénée proved an jumped to $148,597 (more than $2 mil - The post-revolutionary years were innovator. Rather than constructing the lion in today’s market). politically volatile and dangerous for then-customary single building for his Despite E.I. du Pont’s taciturn nature 18 BOSS ᔢ SUMMER 2010 BOSS_summer10_1:Layout 1 6/1/10 3:05 PM Page 19 and constant concern about safety (he home to survey the damage and com - Ponts reportedly received cards of con - posted a sign on New Year’s Day 1811 fort the grieving families of his workers. dolence from across the country—most reading, “All kind of play or disorderly Rebuilding quickly commenced (the notably from Thomas Jefferson. fun is prohibited!”), he came to be wide - process ultimately took a year) and Throughout his life, Irénée du Pont ly respected by his workers for being fair Irénée set up a monthly pension system suffered bouts of depression, “habitual and generous. He was among the first for the families who had lost breadwin - dullness and melancholy,” as he wrote at leaders of industry in the U.S. who saw ners in the accident. All but two of the one point to his brother-in-law. His the value in building and training a work workmen who survived the blasts melancholy became all-consuming force. In 1811, Irénée instituted a system agreed to come back to work, reports when the unexpected death of his of overtime and night pay, previously historian Joseph Frazier Wall. As the brother Victor, in January 1827, was unheard of, and two years later he set up years passed, fathers handed down their followed 21 months later by the demise a savings plan for his employees; for steady and well-paying jobs to their of his beloved Sophie in November every $100 they saved, the company sons, assuring a continuity and loyalty 1828. For months after her passing, he would pay 6 percent interest, notes to the Du Pont company that paved the could be found seated on a rock, staring author Adrian Kinnane in a bicentennial way for financial success. forlornly out at the flowing waters of history of the company. To help employ - Irénée’s strategy of constantly re- the Brandywine, reports author Wall. ees go on to establish homesteads, he investing profits into the company to fuel Eventually, the love of his children purchased a large tract of land in growth didn’t meet with approval from and grandchildren, and the demands of Western Pennsylvania, offering credit to investors—or even his father—early on, business, helped him rally, and he former employees who wanted to transi - but it ultimately proved savvy. In 1822, returned to his involvement with the tion to farming. ever the innovator, Irénée replaced the family company. But the strain of con - As the years passed, fathers handed down their steady and well-paying jobs to their sons, assuring a loyalty to the Du Pont company that paved the way for financial success. E.I. du Pont also believed strongly in company’s up-and-down stamping stant worry and sadness took its toll.
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