Existing comment:
Early Years of the DuPont Company:
DuPont produced its first gunpowder in May of 1804. In the first year of operation, the company produced 38,525 pounds of gunpowder. It was during these early years that DuPont began a long-term relationship with the U.S. government, supplying it with gunpowder for the army and navy.
By 1811, the company was the largest gunpowder manufacturer in the United States. Because he was committed to the long-term growth of the company, E.I. reinvested profits into expansion and to a lesser degree used them to pay off old debts and the interest on new ones. The company was heavily in debt through E.I. du Pont's lifetime.
Westward expansion of the United States and war with England increased the demand for quality gunpowder. In 1813, the U.S. government's orders for gunpowder totally 500,000 pounds. In response to that growing need for his product, E.I. du Pont purchased the adjacent sixty-two acre Hagley estate to expand his business.
By 1827, DuPont employed 140 men and had the capacity to produce 800,000 pounds per year. When E.I. du Pont died in 1834, the mills were producing a million pounds of gunpowder a year. |