Jacob Broom built a cotton mill on the site in 1795, which burned down in 1797.
In 1802, he sold the site, complete with a working dam and millrace, to Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who paid $6,740 for the 95 acres (380,000 m²).

The first domestic supplies of high-quality gunpowder were made in the US by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.
The company was founded in 1802 by E.I. du Pont, two years after he and his family left France to escape the French Revolution.

They set up the Eleutherian gunpowder mill on the Brandywine Creek just north of Wilmington, Delaware, based on gunpowder machinery bought from France and site plans for a gunpowder mill supplied by the French Government.
They also built housing for 30 workers.

Starting, initially, by reworking damaged gunpowder and refining saltpetre for the US government, they quickly moved into gunpowder manufacture.
Saltpetre was refined in an area between the house and the mills that now is occupied by a formal garden.
Charcoal was produced from the willow trees that lined the Brandywine.

By the end of 1804, DuPont had sold 39,000 pounds of powder; the following year, sales tripled.
The federal government and John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company became regular customers.
In 1813, the Hagley property, just downstream from the original mills, was purchased, doubling the size and capacity of the mills.
Sales grew during the Mexican–American War and the Crimean War.
 During the American Civil War, the firm sold 4,000,000 barrels of powder to the federal government.
Jacob Broom built a cotton mill on the site in 1795, which burned down in 1797. In 1802, he sold the site, complete with a working dam and millrace, to Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who paid $6,740 for the 95 acres (380,000 m²).
The first domestic supplies of high-quality gunpowder were made in the US by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The company was founded in 1802 by E.I. du Pont, two years after he and his family left France to escape the French Revolution.
They set up the Eleutherian gunpowder mill on the Brandywine Creek just north of Wilmington, Delaware, based on gunpowder machinery bought from France and site plans for a gunpowder mill supplied by the French Government. They also built housing for 30 workers.
Starting, initially, by reworking damaged gunpowder and refining saltpetre for the US government, they quickly moved into gunpowder manufacture. Saltpetre was refined in an area between the house and the mills that now is occupied by a formal garden. Charcoal was produced from the willow trees that lined the Brandywine.
By the end of 1804, DuPont had sold 39,000 pounds of powder; the following year, sales tripled. The federal government and John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company became regular customers. In 1813, the Hagley property, just downstream from the original mills, was purchased, doubling the size and capacity of the mills. Sales grew during the Mexican–American War and the Crimean War.  During the American Civil War, the firm sold 4,000,000 barrels of powder to the federal government.
Eleutherian Mills