In 1889, Baekeland and his wife Céline took advantage of a travel scholarship to visit universities in England and the United States.

[1]: 178 [2]: 14 [10] They visited New York City, where he met Professor Charles F. Chandler of Columbia University and Richard Anthony, of the E. and H.T.

[8]: 130  However, a spell of illness and disappearing funds made him rethink his actions and he decided to return to his old interest of producing a photographic paper that would allow enlargements to be printed by artificial light.

"[17]One of the requirements of the Nepera sale was, in effect, a non-compete clause: Baekeland agreed not to do research in photography for at least 20 years.

[2]: 14 Upon returning to the United States, Baekeland was involved briefly but successfully in helping Clinton Paul Townsend and Elon Huntington Hooker to develop a production-quality electrolytic cell.

Baekeland's improvements were important to the founding of Hooker Chemical Company and the construction of one of the world's largest electrochemical plants, at Niagara Falls.

[11] By the 1900s, chemists had begun to recognize that many of the natural resins and fibers were polymeric, a term introduced in 1833 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius.

[8]: 115 [24] Baeyer's student, Werner Kleeberg, experimented with phenol and formaldehyde in 1891, but as Baekeland noted "could not crystallize this mess, nor purify it to constant composition, nor in fact do anything with it once produced".

[11] He familiarized himself with previous work and approached the field systematically, carefully controlling and examining the effects of temperature, pressure, and the types and proportions of materials used.

[2][8]: 144–145 The first application that appeared promising was the development of a synthetic replacement for shellac (made from the secretion of lac beetles).

By controlling the pressure and temperature applied to phenol and formaldehyde, he produced his dreamed-of hard moldable plastic: Bakelite.

[4] In compression molding, the resin is generally combined with fillers such as wood or asbestos, before pressing it directly into the final shape of the product.

Baekeland's process patent for making insoluble products of phenol and formaldehyde was filed in July 1907, and granted on December 7, 1909.

As Baekeland grew older he became more eccentric, entering fierce battles with his son and presumptive heir over salary and other issues.

He became a recluse, attempting to develop an immense tropical garden on his winter estate in Coconut Grove, Florida.