Herbert Henry Dow
American chemical industrialist who founded Dow Chemical.
Herbert Henry Dow was an American chemical industrialist who founded Dow Chemical. He was a prolific inventor of chemical processes, compounds, and products, notably bromine extraction from brine water, and was a successful businessman.
Quick Facts
- Birthplace
- Belleville, Canada West
- Died
- 15 October 1930
- Place of death
- Rochester, Minnesota, United States
- Spouse
- Grace Anna Ball (1892)
- Children
- 7
- Father
- Joseph Henry Dow
- Mother
- Sarah Bunnell
- Field
- Chemistry
Facts from the source article.
Biography
Herbert Henry Dow was born in 1866 in Belleville, Ontario, as the first child of Joseph Henry Dow and Sarah Bunnell, both Americans originally from Derby, Connecticut. His father worked as an inventor and mechanical engineer. When Herbert was just six weeks old, the family moved back to their hometown in Connecticut. In 1878, they relocated again, this time to Cleveland, so Joseph could take a job with the Derby Shovel Manufacturing Company. After finishing high school in 1884, Dow entered the Case School of Applied Science, now known as Case Western Reserve University. There, he joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and started focusing his studies on the chemical makeup of brines from Ohio and surrounding areas. He found that brine from Canton, Ohio, and Midland, Michigan, contained high levels of bromine, a substance then essential for medicines and the growing photography industry. Upon graduating in 1888, Dow spent a year teaching chemistry at Huron Street Hospital College in Cleveland, all the while continuing his brine research. In 1889, he earned his first patent for a cheaper, more efficient method of extracting bromine. He quickly started his own company, but it went bankrupt within a year. Still, his colleagues were impressed, and in 1890 they helped him establish the Midland Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan. Dow kept working on bromine extraction, and by early 1891 he had created the Dow process, which used electrolysis to turn bromide into bromine. Wanting to apply electrolysis to produce other chemicals, Dow faced opposition from his financial backers, who fired him from the Midland Chemical Company. Undeterred, he pressed on and developed a way to extract chlorine and caustic soda from sodium chloride. Seeking new funding in Cleveland, he turned to family friends and former classmates from Case. He secured support from James T. Pardee, Albert W. Smith, J. H. Osborn, and Cady Staley. In 1895, Dow moved his young family to Massillon, Ohio, and founded the Dow Process Company to build the production system for his method. The next year, he returned to Midland and formed the Dow Chemical Company, which took over from the Dow Process Company. That earlier company had been incorporated with 57 original stockholders. Within three years, Dow’s new firm bought out the Midland Chemical Company.
Commemoration
In 1899, Herbert Henry Dow turned a personal pastime into the Dow Gardens, located on the grounds of his Midland, Michigan home. His legacy in the city includes Herbert Henry Dow High School, which opened in 1968 and bears his name. Dow received the Perkin Medal in 1930. His residence, the Herbert H. Dow House, was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976. After his death, his wife Grace established the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation in 1936, aiming to improve life in Midland and across Michigan. Since then, the foundation has donated nearly half a billion dollars to various state projects and programs. Its offices sit in a building on the same grounds as the Dow home and gardens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was Herbert Henry Dow born?
Herbert Henry Dow was born in Belleville, Canada West.
When did Herbert Henry Dow die?
Herbert Henry Dow died on 15 October 1930 in Rochester, Minnesota, United States.
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