E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Yerkes Plant.

The Yerkes Plant of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was named in 1945 for Leonard A. Yerkes, the first president of the Du Pont Fibersilk Company and the person most instrumental in bringing French technology for the production of rayon and cellophane to the U.S.

The Du Pont Fibersilk Company built its rayon plant at Tonawanda, N.Y., near Buffalo, in 1920-21, and the Du Pont Cellophane Company built its plant nearby in 1923-24. The first American cellophane was made there in 1924. The two companies became the Rayon Department of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. on October 1, 1936. Rayon production at the Yerkes Plant ceased in 1955.