E.I. du Pont de Nemours is a chemical company commonly known as the DuPont Company. It was established in 1802 and began by manufacturing gunpowder; later it moved to chemical compounds. The foundations for the Engineering Department were laid in 1902. The department’s purpose was to design and construct high explosives plants, design powder machinery, and create extensions to existing plants. The Engineering Division of the High Explosives Department was consolidated with the Black Powder Engineering Division in 1911 to become the Engineering Department.

When the United States entered World War I, the DuPont Company was called upon to build and operate smokeless powder plants for the United States government. In order to handle this unprecedented rush of construction, DuPont created the DuPont Engineering Company. Both the Engineering Company and Engineering Department employed the same personnel, but only the Company performed work for outside war contracts (for example, Atlas Powder Company, Giant Powder Company, Grasselli Powder Company, Hazard Powder Company, Hercules Powder Company, and Judson Powder Company--some of which had been spun off from the DuPont Company due to government regulations) in addition to their work for E.I. du Pont de Nemours. Aside from war contracts, the department also built plants to accommodate the company’s twentieth-century growth. In addition to high explosives plants, the Engineering Department constructed plants that manufactured cellophane, rayon, paint developments, dye, and fabrikoid. After the war, the DuPont Engineering Company continued to do outside design and construction work for companies such as General Motors Corporation and the Wilmington City Marine Terminal, but it ceased active work around 1924, after complaints from competing private contractors. The the DuPont Engineering Company was dissolved in 1928.

Following the dissolution, the Engineering Department continued work within the DuPont Powder Company. The Department itself was divided into the branches of Black Powder and High Explosives, which were then separated further into High Explosives, Smokeless, and Black Powder.

With the United States entering World War II in 1941, the DuPont Powder Company began governmental projects with plants being constructed in support of war efforts.