The Herbert H. Dow House is an historic house located in the

Dow Gardens Dow Gardens is a botanical garden located at 1809 Eastman Avenue, Midland, Michigan, United States. Visitors are invited to leave the pathway and explore the uniquely-designed landscape, take a tour of the historic Pines Home, participate in one o ...

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...

. Built in 1899, it was the home of

Herbert H. Dow Herbert Henry Dow (February 26, 1866 – October 15, 1930) was a Canadian-born American chemical industrialist who founded the American multinational conglomerate Dow Chemical. He was a graduate of Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, O ...

(b. 1866), founder of

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...

, from then until his death in 1930. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1976. and The house is open for guided tours; admission is charged.

Description and history

The Herbert H. Dow House stands within Dow Gardens, a private park open to the public. It is an architecturally vernacular -story wood-frame structure, with a diversity of projections, roof styles, and window sizes and shapes. It is not considered to be architecturally significant. The house was built in 1899 for Herbert H. Dow, and is now owned by the Herbert and Grace Dow Foundation. Herbert Dow, born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and raised in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1888, focused on

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, from the

Case School of Applied Science The Case School of Engineering is the engineering school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It traces its roots to the 1880 founding of the Case School of Applied Science. It became the Case Institute of Technology in 1947 ...

. He immediately pursued research to separate

bromine Bromine is a chemical element with the symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is the third-lightest element in group 17 of the periodic table (halogens) and is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a simila ...

from salt

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

, since bromine was recognized as an important chemical with applications in photography and medicine. He moved to Midland in 1890 because the brine in the region was particularly rich in bromine, and his refinement of the techniques of separating it led to the formal founding of Dow Chemical in 1897. Dow's work and patents in this area laid the groundwork for what is now the modern chemical industry. Dow was also interested in horticulture, developing extensive gardens near his home. This land is now the

public park.

References

External links

*
Dow Gardens House web site
{{Authority control National Historic Landmarks in Michigan Midland, Michigan Houses in Midland County, Michigan Houses completed in 1899 National Register of Historic Places in Midland County, Michigan Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan

Description and history

See also

References

External links