Profile

Olin Corporation is an American manufacturer of ammunition, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide. Based in Clayton, Missouri, it traces its roots to two companies, both founded in 1892: Franklin W. Olin's Equitable Powder Company and the Mathieson Alkali Works. After being headquartered for many years in Stamford, Connecticut, it is now headquartered in Clayton, Missouri. The company was started by Franklin W. Olin in East Alton, Illinois, as the Equitable Powder Company. Olin created the company for the purpose of supplying the area's coal mines and limestone quarries with explosives. Olin's blasting and gunpowder company expanded into the production of cartridges in 1898.