|
1900 |
Grace opens offices in Argentina. |
|
1907 |
 Joseph P. Grace becomes company president. |
|
1914 |
 Grace establishes the Grace National Bank, forerunner
of Marine Midland Bank. Grace sends the first commercial vessel through the newly
constructed Panama Canal. |
|
1917 |
 The Santa Ana is christened as the first of the Grace Line passenger
ships. She and sister ships, Santa Elisa, Santa Teresa, Santa Rosa and Santa Paula,
all are drafted into war service to ferry troops for the next two years. |
|
1919 |
Bradley Dewey and Charles Almy found Dewey & Almy Chemical Company in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. |
|
1922 |
 Dewey
& Almy develop first can sealants to replace lead solder. |
|
1923 |
Davison Chemical Company begins selling silica gel. |
|
1924 |
Davison introduces Raney® nickel catalysts for organic synthesis
and organic chemical production. |
|
1928 |
 Grace and Pan American Airways jointly form Panagra, establishing
the first air link between the Americas. |
|
1930 |
Davison purchases Silica Gel Corporation and begins to find new uses for silica
gel, including air drying, refrigeration and packaging desiccants. |
|
1935 |
Dewey & Almy enters the cement business by creating a new class of cement processing
additives called grinding aids. The advent of the beer can prompts Dewey & Almy's
development of a new sealant that preserves purity and taste. |
|
1939 |
Leopold Ruzicka and Adolph Butenandt use Raney nickel catalysts in synthesizing
male sex hormones from cholesterol, winning the Nobel prize in chemistry for their
discovery. |
|
1941 |
 Responding to the needs of a world at war, Dewey & Almy finds
a synthetic substitute for natural rubber can and bottle sealants. |
|
1942 |
Davison ships world's first synthetic fluid cracking catalysts for petroleum refining
to the world's first commercial fluid cracking catalyst unit in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. |
|
1945 |
 J. Peter Grace becomes president of W. R. Grace & Co. at age
32. |
|
1947 |
Davison establishes the industry's first technical services facility for fluid cracking
catalysts. |
|
1949 |
Davison introduced SYLOID® silica products. SYLOID®
silicas are still the industry standard for matting agents for coatings. |
|
1953 |
 W. R. Grace & Co. lists on the New York Stock Exchange with
ticker symbol GRA. Davison opens the Lake Charles, Louisiana plant for fluid cracking
catalysts. |
|
1954 |
Grace acquires Davison Chemical Company and Dewey & Almy Chemical Company, establishing
the basis for the Company's catalysts, packaging, silicas and construction product
lines. Cryovac® packaging operations spin off from Dewey & Almy.
Grace opens offices in Brazil. |
|
1956 |
Dewey & Almy introduces water-reducing and retarding concrete admixtures. |
|
1957 |
Davison opens its first plant in Canada in Valleyfield, Quebec. |
|
1958 |
Grace builds its Washington Research Center, the largest industrial chemicals research
center in Maryland. Grace opens offices in New Zealand. |
|
1959 |
Grace opens offices in Mexico. |