Henry Bower Chemical Manufacturing Company

The Henry Bower Chemical Manufacturing Company was formed in 1906 by the merger of the Ammonia Company of Philadelphia, the Kalion Chemical Company and the Baltimore Chrome Works. It was controlled by the Bower family until November 1967, when it was sold to Pickands Mather & Company of Cleveland.

Henry Bower (1833-1896) was the son of Wilhelm Bauer (who anglicized his name to William Bower), a drug broker who came from Hamburg to Philadelphia in 1825. His uncle, George D. Rosengarten, was a leading drug manufacturer of Philadelphia. Henry Bower graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1854 and established himself as a drug broker at 7 South Front Street in the following year. In 1858, Bower began to manufacture his own chemicals at a small plant on Gray's Ferry Road. He was the first to produce pure inodorous glycerine that could be used in medicines. He also manufactured ammonium sulphate from the condenser and waste liquors of the Philadelphia Gas Works.

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