E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). The company began with the production of gunpowder. Throughout the 1900s and 1910s, the company shifted its focus away from gunpowder production and towards chemistry and synthetic materials. By 1926, DuPont officially dissolved the powder production unit, although it had already been inactive for many years.

DuPont's Chestnut Run Laboratories were opened in 1954 near Wilmington, Delaware. The first laboratory was the Textile Research Laboratory, whose purpose was to test the effects of normal wear and tear on DuPont's line of synthetic fibers and fabrics. The 165-acre complex went on to house eight laboratories and an administration building. The eight service and research laboratories were: the Textile Research Laboratory, Polychemicals Sales Services Laboratory, Elastomers--Freon Products Laboratory, Film Service Laboratory, Pigments Laboratory, Electrochemicals Laboratory, Sales Technical Laboratory of Industrial & Biochemicals Department, and the Plastics Technical Services Laboratory.