Disaster Along the Brandywine: Explosions at the DuPont Powder Mills

Overview

The Milford Museum American History Series continues with a program titled Disaster along the Brandywine: Explosions at the DuPont Powder Mills presented by Dick Templeton on Saturday, January 10, 1:00 p.m. at the Milford Public Library in Milford, Delaware. In its 124-year history, the DuPont black powder mills, run by the power of water from the Brandywine Creek, produced millions of pounds of materials that helped build America. The mills produced wealth for a family whose name would become synonymous with innovation in chemicals. However, the mills along the peaceful, bubbling creek also created widows and orphans. During most of the 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries, 288 explosions tore apart mill buildings, the surrounding flora, and the lives of the workers whose job it was to work with the volatile and unpredictable powder.

Originally from Normal, Illinois, Richard D. Templeton lives in Wilmington, Delaware. He works as a Tour Guide at the Hagley Museum and Library, the site of the original DuPont black powder factory in Northern Delaware. His past jobs include police officer, firefighter/EMT, telecommunications analyst/engineer/consultant, and U.S. Army stockade counselor. In retirement, besides the work at Hagley, Templeton is a pyrotechnician, setting up automated fireworks displays for the First Family of Fireworks, the Gruccis of Long Island, New York. He has a Master’s degree in Public Administration and has traveled around the world.