Albemarle Corporate History

1900-1950s

1918 - Floyd D. Gottwald joins Albemarle as a clerk in the export department.

1921 - The antiknock properties of tetraethyl lead (TEL) as a gasoline additive are discovered after a lengthy search by a team of General Motors research chemists. TEL is to be the principal product of Ethyl Corporation for more than 40 years.

1937 - TEL production begins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for Ethyl Gasoline Corporation.

1941 - Floyd D. Gottwald is elected president of Albemarle.

1942 - Ethyl Gasoline Corporation changes its name to Ethyl Corporation to characterize a broader interest than just gasoline products.

1952 - Ethyl opens a plant in Pasadena, Texas.

1953 - Ethyl acquires an Orangeburg, South Carolina specialty chemical plant from Wannamaker Chemical Company.

1957 - MMT, a manganese-based antiknock, is first marketed by Ethyl.