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☕️ Sunday Coffee: The Ghosts of the Dow Dozen - Where Are the Original 12 Companies Now?

Picture the Wall Street scene in 1896: twelve giants under one ticker — the birth of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Author

Serhio MaxDividends
August 31, 2025

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Intro

Picture the Wall Street scene in 1896: twelve giants under one ticker — the birth of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Fast-forward 125 years, and only General Electric still bears the original badge. The rest?

A patchwork of mergers, spin-offs, and corporate evolution. Let’s time-travel through each company’s dramatic arc — because their stories are anything but ordinary.

#1 From Cottonseed Oil to Table Staples

American Cotton Oil started as a lowly crusher of cottonseed — hardly glamorous fuel for the industrial age. But by the early 1900s, thanks to the rise in demand for packaged goods, they pivoted.

In 1917, the company scooped up the Nucoa Butter Company and its “Best Foods” division, blessing consumers with mayo and sauces that became pantry staples.

Over the decades, it morphed into CPC International and rebranded as Bestfoods in 1997 — only to be swallowed by Unilever in 2000 in one of the largest cash deals at the time. Today, you still likely use their mayonnaise under either the Bestfoods or Hellmann’s label.

Notably, Unilever itself emerged from a 1929 union of Britain’s Lever Brothers (soaps like Vim, Lifebuoy) with Dutch Margarine Unie, forging the first modern multinational known globally today.

#2 American Sugar’s Sticky Transformation

Once dubbed the American Sugar Refining Company, the business evolved into Domino Sugar by 1900. It rode through acquisitions — most recently by ASR Group — but the familiar sugar brand still skulks on shelves.

#3 Pure Tobacco to Spirits & Brands

American Tobacco didn’t just ride the tobacco boom — antitrust laws broke it into pieces. One offshoot navigated multiple rebrands: American Brands, Fortune Brands, and eventually splintering into Beam Inc., known today as part of the Beam Suntory spirits empire. The original brand? Off to BAT in 1994.

#4 Gaslight to Grid

Chicago Gas Company evolved through “People’s Gas” and Integrys, ultimately becoming part of WEC Energy Group — still hot in Wisconsin and the Midwest, worth around $28 billion in 2025.

#5 Distilling Through Decades of Names

Started as Distilling & Cattle Feeding, this enterprise rebranded as National Distillers, then Quantum Chemical, shifted into Millennium Chemicals, and finally ended up in LyondellBasell.

It’s a chemistry textbook on corporate reinvention, rooted in innovations like the first polyethylene chain — winning chemical awards along the way.

#6 General Electric: The Only Survivor

General Electric, born in 1892, is the sole survivor of the original Dow list — though not without dramatic peeling. Once a broadcaster (think NBC), financier (GE Capital), and industrial conglomerate, it’s now reshaped into aerospace-focused divisions like GE Aerospace and Vernova. With a value near $182 billion, it still commands a spot on today’s Dow.

#7 Laclede Gas Still Sparks Life

Laclede Gas Light Co. transformed into Spire Inc., supplying natural gas in St. Louis. Unlike most of its peers, it kept plugging on — market cap just over $3 billion as of 2025.

#8 National Lead’s Modest Existence

National Lead Co., now NL Industries, pivoted from industrial lead to specialty titanium dioxide and precision components. It's still around — quietly — with a small but surviving market cap of roughly $184 million today.

#9 Electric Expansion with Ameren

North American Company eventually became Union Electric, and in 1998 merged to form Ameren Corporation, now a $19 billion utility presence across Missouri and Illinois.

#10 Steel & Soil: The U.S. Steel Story

Tennessee Coal & Iron was absorbed by U.S. Steel in 1907. Today, U.S. Steel endures as a solid — if not flashy — presence, worth about $7.9 billion.

#11 Leather’s Long Goodbye

U.S. Leather is the only name that truly vanished — liquidated in 1952, leaving shareholders with just small payouts and worthless oil stock. No legacy, no successor.

#12 Rubber Rolls into Michelin

U.S. Rubber became Uniroyal, then was acquired by Michelin in 1990. Today, Michelin’s market cap stands around $28 billion, still known for tires.

Final Thought

Only one of the Dow’s original dozen remains in recognizable form today. Yet almost all left legacies — some thriving in new sectors, others quietly spun off, and a few pivoting in entirely new directions.

Holding onto all 12 in a “coffee can” portfolio would’ve meant sitting on a remarkable tapestry of modern industries, even if today's names read differently.

***

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With respect for your well-being, Max

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