January 18, 1966

Dow Chemical Company broke ground for a bromine plant four miles west of Magnolia (Columbia County). The importance of oil and gas drilling had declined in the area, but a new natural resources industry had arrived in the mid-1960s as chemical companies discovered the high bromine content of brine located thousands of feet beneath the earth’s surface. Bromine is an element used in numerous chemical and manufacturing processes. A second plant soon followed.