Overview

The U.S. government asked DuPont to take on five major construction projects to make explosives for Allied forces in World War I. The most challenging was to be the world’s largest smokeless powder plant and a town to go with it at Old Hickory, Tennessee. The newly organized DuPont Engineering Co. completed construction in only five months. Production of sulfuric acid began 67 days after ground-breaking, nitric acid nine days later, and guncotton, the raw material of smokeless powder, two weeks after that.

Click here for in-depth information »