Papers of Chester M. Brown

Collection

Identifier: 2007-171

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This is a small collection of material containing records of the Allied Chemical Corporation, including Annual Reports from 1920 through to 1962 and a file of production figures from the West Virginia Ordinance Works for the year 1945.

Dates

Creation: 1942-1981
Creation: Majority of material found within 1962-1968

Creator

Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation (Organization)
Brown, Chester M., 1908-1981 (Person)

Language of Materials

Text in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research but has not been fully processed and described.

Extent

1.38 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection offers snapshots of Chester M. Brown at two stages of his career. In 1943-1945, taking on major responsibility as Plant Manager of the Point Pleasant West Virginia Ordinance Works where dynamite for the war effort was being produced, then, in 1962-1968 as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman-of-the-Board of the Allied Chemical Corporation, acting as corporate spokesman and a driving force for modernization within the company.

Arrangement

Arranged into four series: Series 1. Life and Career; 2. West Virginia Ordnance Works; Series 3. Allied Chemical Corporation Records; Series 4.Photographs.

Ownership and Custodial History

Acquired via de-accessioning from the American Heritage Center University of Wyoming.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. Method of acquisition--Gift;; Date of acquisition--2007.

General Note

Chester M. Brown was born in Cape Girardeau, MO in 1908. He attended the University of Missouri, earning his B.S. degree in 1929. Thereafter he took up employment with the General Chemical Division of the Allied Chemical Corporation, working in their East St. Louis plant where sulfuric acid and alum was produced. He was promoted to Plant Superintendent in 1936 and Assistant Works Manager in 1938. He moved to New York in 1939 to take up a position as Assistant Production Manager, overseeing all production operations of the General Chemical Division. He remained in this post until 1942 when he took up new duties as Plant Manager of the West Virginia Ordinance Works in Point Pleasant, WV. He remained at Point Pleasant until the end of the war and, in 1946 was named Director of the Fine and Reagent Chemicals Division of the General Chemical Division. In 1955 he was named President of this division and became a Corporate Vice-President in 1957. In 1958 he became President of the National Aniline Division. In 1959 he became President and Director of Allied Chemical Corporation, serving as its Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Executive Committee. Following the sudden death of Kirby H. Fisk in 1962 he became Allied Chemical's Chief Executive Officer and was named Chairman of the Board in 1966. In 1968, Chester M. Brown announced his retirement from Allied Chemical Corporation and returned to the place of his birth, Cape Girardeau, MO where he died on August 18, 1981.