Hello, Freeport

	Dow's Plant A before construction began in 1940.

In the late 1930s, Freeport, Texas had everything a chemical company could want - seawater rich in magnesium, a proximity to natural gas reserves and salt domes, a large harbor, and beautiful weather on an important day.

While looking to build an expansion plant on the Gulf Coast, Dow officials, including Willard Dow and Dr. A.P. Beutel, studied potential locales from New Orleans down to Brownsville. After the coastal tour and a survey of the candidate cities' "industrial qualifications," two sites stood above the rest - Corpus Christi and Freeport. Corpus Christi was an established town with hospitals, schools and the infrastructure to support a mass influx of workers. Freeport was a small village in the middle of marshland, but it was behind a levee.

With a majority of Dow executives favoring Corpus Christi, a Board of Directors' meeting was held in January 1940 at the city's Driskell Hotel to make a final decision on the future plant's location.

"One group wanted to go to Corpus," recalled Beutel in an interview about 25 years after the meeting. "The other group - well, Willard and I were strong for Freeport."

But a verdict was never reached as a bitter "norther" blew into town, bringing with it a massive ice storm. The hotel's poor heating system added to the misery as none of the executives had brought clothes for such inclement weather.

The Dow officials were soon on a train to Houston followed by a drive down to Freeport where the storm had already blown through. Soon after, March 7, 1940, Dow Chemical bought 800 acres bordering Freeport Harbor. The better climate in Freeport wasn't the deciding factor, but it didn't hurt.

An $18 million plant was authorized by the Dow Board. The first load of construction equipment arrived in Freeport by train March 22, 1940.Workers began building in the area known today as Plant A soon after.