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History

As we honor our past, celebrate the present and Imagine Better for the future, Team Dow has never stopped wondering how we can use our science to make the world better. Learn how we’ve innovated for people and our planet for over a century.

Dow's early days

Watch these short animations about our founder, Herbert H. Dow, and the formative years of our company.

Dow’s timeline

Start at the beginning and learn how “do it better” became the spirit that still drives us today.

Dow's story

How do you mine an ocean?

Simple. With chemistry. Dow has a long history of appreciating the oceans and seas as drivers of innovation and sustainable growth.

Sustainability is our second nature

Our mission has always been to create better products for society, better ways to make them and a better understanding of the chemistry that makes them possible.

The “Father of Silicones”

Dr. James Franklin Hyde kick-started an industry by investigating the possibilities of developing plastics with the properties of glass in 1930.

Everything’s bigger in Texas

Dow’s Freeport site is the company’s largest in the world – —and was willed into shape by the first leader of Dow’s Texas Division, the dauntless “Dutch” Beutel.

Women in STEM

From Dow’s first woman- Ph.D. chemist to research pioneers in diverse fields, Dow women in STEM have led the way for others to follow.

Dow’s vintage ads

Innovation builds a company. Advertising tells the world its story. Follow the evolution of Dow through its vintage ads.

A closer look at classic ads

From stylish to simple. From poetic to matter-of-fact. Dow’s vintage ads came in many varieties, each a historical snapshot.

Making of an entrepreneur

From boyhood inventor to optimistic visionary, Herbert. H. Dow had a mind-set to always “do it better.”

Dow’s “Idea Factory”

When many other chemical companies were cutting back on research during the Great Depression, Dow continued to expand its investment in R&D.

On the road to victory

Under Willard H. Dow’s leadership, the Company made critical contributions to the war effort and grew seven-fold.

Dow diversifies

Post-World War II, Dow rapidly adapted to serve a booming peacetime economy, investing in an expanded sales force and looking abroad for growth opportunities. Plus, for the first time, Dow-branded products were sold directly to consumers.