WILMINGTON, DE - DuPont Co. recently marked its 200th anniversary in ceremonies that included the dedication of a time capsule at Wilmington, DE, and the ringing of the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange by DuPont's Chairman and CEO and several other employees.

The company traces its origins to July 19, 1802, when French immigrant Eleuthere Irenee du Pont began a small family business in Wilmington that manufactured black powder for guns and blasting.

The 8-cubic-foot time capsule, filled with artifacts, employees' and retirees' creative expressions and a CD-ROM viewer, was dedicated at the site where the company started operations. The capsule is scheduled to be opened on the company's 300th anniversary in 2102.

The time capsule was placed on a hillside overlooking the Brandywine River near the 1884 Power Plant restored with DuPont's help.

Presiding at the ceremony at the historic Hagley Museum and Library, DuPont Chairman and CEO Charles O. Holliday Jr., was joined by two former CEOs - Edgar S. Woolard and John A. Krol - and 12 employees who were grand prize winners in a company-wide contest celebrating the company's past, present, and future contributions to industry and society.

DuPont is the oldest industrial company listed on the Fortune 500. The company's businesses include DuPont Performance Coatings, which ranks as the world's biggest automotive-coatings producer and the fourth-largest coatings producer overall, and DuPont Titanium Technologies, the world's largest producer of titanium dioxide pigments.