Austin | History

More than 160 years of experience goes into every Austin Powder product you use.

The Early Years

In 1832, five Austin brothers left Vermont to seek a suitable site in the "west" for a powder mill. They traveled as far as Kansas City, Missouri, where they found ample raw materials for producing black powder, but only a small market. So the Austins turned around and headed back east -- to Ohio.
In 1833, having determined that they had both the necessary raw materials and a substantial market, they established the first powder mill in Ohio along the winding Cuyahoga River, just south of Cleveland, at a small iron-making community called Old Forge. This area immediately became known as the "Powder Patch."

The area was an important factor in early Ohio coal mining, as it was on the edge of the rapidly expanding Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky coalfields. It was home to the growing clay mining, canal building and iron industries.

In the beginning, the five Austin brothers handled all the manufacturing operations. Working 12 hours a day, they reported annual output of 72,500 pounds of black powder by 1840. In a rapidly growing America, the fortunes of Austin Powder steadily improved. By 1865, the firm's workforce numbered 20.

By 1867, Austin had the means to purchase a competitor, Cleveland Powder Company. The transaction included 400 acres of land at the 5-mile lock of the Ohio Canal. This is now the heart of industrial Cleveland, occupied by the Republic Steel Corporation and Aluminum Company of America plants.

Always looking to expand and improve, the brothers provided themselves with capital by incorporating Austin Powder Company in 1867 for "the sale of blasting, mining, shipping, cannon, meal and sporting powder." Daniel H. Austin was the first president and Linus Austin was secretary.