Founder Profile
Henry S. Bryan
Last reviewed: September 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Henry S. Bryan?
Henry S. Bryan is a founder of 3M Company, which was founded in 1902 with J. Danley Budd, John Dwan, Hermon W. Cable and William A. McGonagle.
- Company founded
- 3M Company
- Founded
- 1902
- Co-founders
- J. Danley Budd, John Dwan, Hermon W. Cable and William A. McGonagle
Background
Henry S. Bryan was a railroad executive in Two Harbors, Minnesota, and one of 3M's five founders in 1902.
Founding Story
Bryan was one of the two railroad men in the founding group, alongside William A. McGonagle, and joined physician J. Danley Budd, attorney John Dwan and meat market owner Hermon W. Cable in incorporating the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company on June 13, 1902. The deposit they bought near Two Harbors turned out to be anorthosite rather than corundum, the mining plan failed, and in 1905 St. Paul investors Edgar Ober and Lucius P. Ordway took control of the company, which moved to Duluth and then, in 1910, to St. Paul to make sandpaper. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).