Alkali making started to develop in the 1700s and was linked to increasing production of industrial products like cloth. Chemical products like soap, dyes and bleach were increasingly in demand and the need for glass also encouraged the industry. In 1798 John Losh and the Earl of Dundonald took out a lease on a rich supply of brine pumped from Walker pit and the salt from the brine was later used in the manufacture of alkali. Alkali works were established by Losh, Wilson & Bell at Walker on Tyne in 1807. The manufacture of bleaching powder began at Walker in 1830 and Losh Brothers soon manufactured half the soda in England.

In 1814 the Le Blanc process of making alkali from common salt was introduced to Britain making alkali manufacture easier. Alkali works opened at Tyne Dock in 1822, Felling shore 1826, Friars Goose (Gateshead) 1828 and Felling Shore 1834. Such works produced products like soda, alum and Epsom salts. One of the great problems associated with the alkali works was pollution, mainly from emmissions of hydroclauric acid fumes which devastated the neighbouring countryside. One solution was to build tall chimneys to drive the fumes further away and in 1833 the highest chimney in England was built at the Friars Goose Alkali Works. The Alkali Act of 1863 would further reduce pollution.

Chemical works were founded by Robert Wilson at Urlay nook near Egglescliffe in 1833 to produce sulphuric acid and fertilisers. It was Teesside's first great chemical works. Teesside did not however take over from Tyneside until the 1860s and 70s. In 1859 huge rock salt deposits were discovered at Middlesbrough by Bolckow and Vaughan while they were boring for water at a depth of 1206 feet. The following year William James established an alkali company at Cargo Fleet and in 1869 Samuel Sadler set up a works nearby. Sadler's works produced synthetic aniline and alzarine dyes and distilled tar. A new method of making alkali called the Solvay process introduced in 1872 made the Tyneside industry uneconomic but was a boon for Teesside. Further Salt deposits discovered at Port Clarence by Bell Brothers in 1874 also boosted Teesside production.

A number of salt works were established at Haverton Hill near Billingham in 1882 by Bell Brothers of Port Clarence who became the first firm to begin large scale salt production on Teesside. Salt workers were brought in from Cheshire and housed at Haverton Hill. The Salt making interests of Bell Brothers were bought by Brunner Mond & Co of Cheshire in 1890 who became the great giants of Teesside chemical making in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Meanwhile rationalization of chemical firms in 1891 left only four works on Tyneside.

Salt making in and around Greatham (between Hartlepool and Billingham) had been important in Medieval times but by the sixteenth century the industry was eclipsed by South Shields on the Tyne. In 1894 the industry returned to Greatham in a big way with the establishment of the Greatham Salt and Brine Company by George Weddell. The works were later purchased by the famous salt making company Cerebos in 1903

Glass had long been an important industry in the north since stained glass glaziers were introduced to Wearmouth and Jarrow monastery way back in 674AD. Sunderland and Tyneside were once again noted for glass making from the seventeenth century and from the nineteenth century glass making was particularly important. In 1827 about two fifths of all English glass was made in the Tyneside area and in 1845 South Shields was making more plate glass than anywhere else in England. Sunderland was also rising to prominence as a glass making centre. James Hartley's Wear Glass Works were opened in Sunderland in 1836 and by 1865 one third of the sheet glass in England was supplied by his Sunderland works.

A chemical industry of an altogether different kind but linked to the demand for glass was of course the beer brewing industry. Major beer brewers in the region were Tetley's established in Leeds 1822, Vaux Breweries at Sunderland 1837, The Lion Brewery at Hartlepool (later Camerons)1852 and the Newcastle Breweries established in 1890.

The Chemical Industry was established at Billingham in 1918 by the government for the production of synthetic ammonia. It was intended for use in the making of bombs for the First World War. The 700-acre Grange Farm at Billingham was chosen for the site. The war was over by the time the plant opened and it had to adapt to new manufacturing.

Author Aldous Huxley visited the newly-opened and technologically-advanced Brunner Mond plant at ICI and gave a fine and detailed account of the processes he saw. The introduction to the most recent print of Brave New World states that Huxley was inspired to write the classic novel (in which Mustapha Mond figures as a character), by this Billingham visit. The plant was taken over by Brunner Mond in 1920 and manufactured Synthetic Ammonia and fertilisers. Brunner Mond merged with other great chemical manufacturers in 1926 to form ICI. From 1928 Anhydrite or Dry Gypsum was mined from 700 feet below Billingham for use in the making of fertilisers.

The making of plastics commenced at Billingham in 1934 and a new plant was established the following year for making oil and petrol from cresote and coal through a process called hydrogenation. In 1946 another great chemical works opened on Teesside at Wilton on the south side of the river. Further lands were purchased by ICI in 1962 at Seal Sands where land had been reclaimed from the sea.

Coke ovens used in the making of chemicals at Billingham were replaced in 1962 by new plants utilising the steam naptha process which enabled the use of crude oil. This proved to be a much cheaper process of making ammonia on Teesside. From 1964 to 1969 four great oil refineries were erected at the mouth of the Tees by Phillips Petroleum (2), ICI and Shell. Their main purpose to supply the Billingham chemical industry. A 138 mile long pipeline was built in 1968 linking Chemical works on Teesside with chemical plants at Runcorn for the transportation of ethylene.