Founding Founded in 1903 as "the Development and Funding Company" by
Elon Huntington Hooker, of Rochester, NY, the company used the
Townsend cell to electrolyse salt into chlorine and
sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also known as "caustic soda" and "lye," in a
chloralkali process. Elmer Sperry, founder of
Sperry Electric, and
Leo Baekeland, inventor of
Bakelite and Velox photographic paper, consulted Hooker to improve the design of the cell. Hooker sold the business in 1927. Hooker built a new chloralkali plant in
Tacoma, WA in 1929. Additional products, including
sodium sulfide,
sodium sulfhydrate,
sodium tetrasulfide, and
aluminum chloride were produced by the company. The films,
The Killing Ground and
A Fierce Green Fire, also explore the history of several of Hooker Chemical's dumping sites and the
Love Canal tragedy. Hundreds of deaths have been blamed on the company’s environmental negligence. The PBS program
American Experience broadcast
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal on April 22, 2024, which was produced by Madrona Productions for
GBH. ==References==