Herbert H. Dow still affects Midland's future after 125 years
Updated 7:54 am, Friday, August 14, 2015
The Flint and Pere Marquette Railway train rumbled into town, as it did regularly in the struggling lumber community. Passengers readied themselves as they exited, stepping foot on Midland’s soil on a hot summer day. It was 2 p.m. on Aug. 14, 1890 — 125 years ago today — that Herbert H. Dow found himself among the passengers calling Midland the end of the line. With just two suitcases for his clothes, chemistry books and some lab equipment, no one at the time could have imagined the opportunities the 24-year-old entrepreneur would create for the people of Midland, opportunities that continue to this day.
“If there’s one person who had a tremendous, singular impact on Midland, it’s Herbert Dow,” said Gary Skory, director of the Midland County Historical Society.
Family records indicate the time of Dow’s arrival, which Skory said marks a “pivotal moment in Midland’s history.”
Midland at the time was a struggling lumber town, “dying on the vine,” Skory said.
“The lumber industry had tanked for a year or two already; it was a miserable situation,” he said.
Unemployment was above 30 percent, and people struggled so much that some tried to burn their homes for insurance money. Midland lacked a hospital and library, and there were no paved streets.
“It’s a very dismal looking town,” Skory said. “It’s about as rough a description you can hear and still think people live there.”
But, Dow saw potential in a resource Midland had plenty of — brine.
Dow’s story starts a little bit before his arrival in Midland, though. A family friend, J.H. Osborne, saw potential in the young man, and helped fund Dow’s way through Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland. After Dow graduated in 1888, he tried to go into business with two men in southern Ohio whose gas well was producing salty water, not gas. Dow knew that salt water was a potential catalyst and could be profitable, but the partnership didn’t work out with the two men. Dow left to return to Cleveland, where he talked with Osborne.
Dow described to Osborne the process of using electricity to separate chemicals in salt water, and Osborne helped him travel to Midland and found the Midland Chemical Co., which could take advantage of high concentrations of bromine in the community. Bromine was a chemical which was essential to the growing pharmaceutical and photography industries of the time.
There was a bromine industry in Midland before Dow arrived, but the method used for production was akin to making maple syrup, with a labor- and time-intensive process of boiling brine down. Dow’s new way used electricity and was fast and consistent.
“That was an amazing thing,” Skory said. “It’s much more amazing than people realize today.”
When Dow arrived in Midland, he set up a home along Main Street as he perfected his production process. Osborne provided resources to keep the operation going, and Dow made the most of everything he could get his hands on, making it work “on the cheap, because he had to,” Skory said. “I think that never leaves Herbert Dow, that ability to reuse and recycle and never waste.”
By 1893, Midland Chemical Co. had proved its process and was operational. It was hiring people and providing steady paychecks in the community.
“That arrival of Herbert Dow in Midland is a tremendous asset,” Skory said. “It not only brings employment, it brings prosperity.”
But Dow was not content making only bromine. He wanted to take the waste products and make other chemicals from them. Unfortunately, he faced some setbacks. While he was a stockholder in Midland Chemical Co., there were others in charge. Investors became unhappy with the fact that some buildings had blown up. Dow was fired from his own company, Skory said.
After a short return to Ohio, Dow returned once again to Midland and made plans for a new company called The Dow Chemical Co., which Dow founded in 1897.
“That was the beginning of Midland’s future,” Skory said. “It grew in ways people could never predict.”
The company quickly outgrew its land and needed more to expand, Skory said. He said people from neighboring towns began to seek work in Midland.
“This man changed our world,” Skory said.
The company lives on, still impacting Midland in multiple ways. Dow remains Midland County’s largest employer. The foundations of its founder and early executives continue to bestow money throughout the community. And, the company’s employees still donate their time and money to many important causes.
Current Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris recently spoke about the impact Herbert Dow still has on the culture of the company, stating that Dow Chemical will remain headquartered in Midland because of the Midwest values of its founder. The Dow Chemical of today might be unimaginable to Herbert Dow, but Liveris said Dow’s family knows the company’s founder would be proud of the company’s recent return to innovation.
“Mike Whiting said, ‘If my great-grandfather could see his company now ... re-creating the innovation that he started with is the thing he would be most proud of,’” Liveris said.
Liveris also shared comments from past CEO Ted Doan, who told a 30-something Liveris that Dow Chemical was no longer the company his grandfather had started because it didn’t innovate anymore and was sending good ideas to other companies.
“I think the founder would be quite proud of the fact that we’ve become an innovation company again,” Liveris said. “I think he’d like that a lot. I think he’d be flabbergasted at how many countries we’re operating in. He probably would be shocked at our accents around here not being just Midwestern. But, I do think he would be quite proud of our innovation story.”
Dow’s lasting impact on Midland goes beyond paychecks and a relatively steady tax base. Those are important, though. Midland City Manager Jon Lynch said the first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think of Dow Chemical’s impact on Midland is the “economic horsepower” the company creates in the region.
“Second may be the scientific prowess the company harbors and has taken advantage of over time,” Lynch said, with innovative products leading Dow toward its current iteration as a science company, not just a chemical company.
There’s also another important impact Herbert Dow still has on the people of Midland.
“From a community perspective, one of the things occasionally people don’t touch on immediately is the philanthropic spirit and sense of ownership of the community that by his personality, actions and values have permeated the community, up to today,” Lynch said.
That spirit of stepping up to make a difference sets Midland apart, Lynch said. It’s also part of Dow Chemical’s DNA.
“When you have key decision makers who are very well familiar with the company pointing to that, that’s pretty powerful stuff,” Lynch said.
Skory said the philanthropic legacy of Herbert Dow and his wife, Grace, is among the many important influences they had on Midland.
“I think he would look around and he would just beam,” Skory said of Dow if he was alive today.
Dow would challenge his team members and push them for more, Skory said.
“Herbert Dow was not a man who was content with the status quo,” he said. “I think he would strongly encourage all of his coworkers to do more than they think they can. He was a tremendous visionary and also a very strong believer in people.”
Skory said Dow would be proud that people still come to this town and realize they want more, and then build it for themselves.
“Herbert Dow did a lot of things really well in his life. The company was one of them,” Skory said. “His tenacity to never give up means I’m here, you’re here and all of our friends are here. Does that kind of creativity still exist in society, in Midland, at Dow? Yes, yes it does.”