The Gunpowder Trade Association was organized by the nation's major powder companies in April 1872. The aims of the Association, as stated in the agenda to its first meeting, were: (1) regulate the powder market in order to avoid overproduction, (2) put an end to cutthroat competition and price wars, (3) establish sales quotas and (4) gain control over those companies that did not join the Association.

Lammot du Pont (1831-1884) of E. I. du Pont de Nemours was the first president of the Gunpowder Trade Association. He initiated a period of consolidation by establishing a policy whereby the DuPont Company would lend capital to its competitors or alternatively acquire their stock or other assets to force them to adhere to Association policies. In this way, the DuPont Company expanded and consolidated its control of the powder market.

The members of the Gunpowder Trade Association met quarterly to establish policy. However, a Council on Prices met weekly, or at the call of the president, to hear complaints of violations of the price schedule.

The Gunpowder Trade Association continued to operate until 1903, when the DuPont Company embarked on a vertical integration strategy and concluded that it no longer needed to work through the Association. The Association was dissolved in 1904.