E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.

Prior to 1914, the DuPont Company was primarily a manufacturer of commercial explosives and sport shooting powders. Its only significant customer for ordnance was the U.S. government. With the outbreak of war in Europe came large orders from the Allied Powers. To meet this demand, DuPont constructed a large works at Hopewell, Va., between Richmond and Petersburg, which was entirely completed on June 1, 1916. American entry into the war in 1917 brought another crash program typical of the business-government collaborations in other areas of war work. The government built two large explosives plants, one near Charleston, W.Va., built entirely with its own forces, and the Old Hickory Plant near Nashville, Tenn., whose construction was contracted to the Du Pont Engineering Company on Jan. 29, 1918. The first powder was granulated on July 2 following. After the war, the company was charged with war profiteering in the famous Nye Committee "Merchants of Death" hearings, leading it to shun military work until the run-up to World War II.