In 1874, J.W. Willard patented a dynamite formulation called “Hercules powder.” The California Powder Works became the sole manufacturer of Hercules powder, and in 1877, Willard oversaw the opening of a new plant in Cleveland, Ohio, dedicated to its production. In 1881, the California Powder Works moved its Hercules powder manufacturing to a new site along the northeast shore of San Francisco Bay, and a company town grew up around the facility, later incorporated as Hercules, California. In 1882, DuPont and Laflin & Rand acquired rights to manufacture Hercules powder, incorporating the Hercules Powder Company for that purpose.
Following a 1911 antitrust lawsuit against DuPont, the U.S. Circuit Court ordered a breakup of its explosives business in 1912, resulting in the creation of Hercules Powder Company alongside Atlas Powder Company. Hercules received the gunpowder portion of the business, with its first management team including H. Dunham, T.W. Bacchus, G.G. Rheuby, J.T Skelly, Norman Rood, Fred Stark, C.D. Prickett, and George Markell. Some of their products were used by the military in World War I.
In the 1920s and 30s, Hercules diversified into pine resin products, establishing production sites in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Brunswick, Georgia. On September 12, 1940, the Kenvil, New Jersey plant suffered a major explosion, destroying at least fifteen buildings and resulting in 51 deaths and approximately 200 injuries. The Kenvil facility also experienced explosions in 1934 and again in 1989. During World War II, Hercules Powder Company ranked 65th among United States corporations in the value of military production contracts.
Beginning in 1959, Hercules expanded into solid-fuel rocket motor production, becoming a primary producer for the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA. The company manufactured the third-stage engine for the Minuteman ICBM, producing 1,000 for deployment in the 1960s. Hercules also produced solid-fueled rocket motors for the Polaris missile system and the Honest John missile. Later, they developed strap-on boosters for the Titan IVB rocket, used for launches like the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn in 1997. In 1995, Hercules, Inc. sold its subsidiary Hercules Aerospace Co. to Alliant Techsystems Inc.
In 1966, the Hercules Powder Company changed its name to Hercules, Inc. By the end of the 1990s, Hercules sold off a significant number of its divisions. Following the purchase of Betz-Dearborn Corporation, the price of Hercules Inc. stock declined. The company was sold to Ashland Corporation in 2008 and dissolved.
Hercules produced a range of commercial gunpowders, including Bullseye, 2400, Reloder, Unique, and Red Dot, which are now manufactured by Alliant Techsystems Inc. in Radford, Virginia. They also produced several powders inherited from DuPont in 1912, such as EC, WA, Sharpshooter, and Lightning. The company also developed its own powders, including Hercules #308, Hercules #2400, and Green Dot.
In 2009, rapper George Watsky released a song about the history of the company called "Hercules".
Richard F. Heck, recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gained experience with transition metal chemistry while working at Hercules in 1957.