Gail Borden Jr. (November 9, 1801 – January 11, 1874) was an American inventor and manufacturing pioneer. He was born in New York state and settled in Texas in 1829 (then part of Mexico), where he worked as a land surveyor, newspaper publisher, and food company entrepreneur. He created a process in 1853 to make sweetened condensed milk. Earlier, Borden helped plan the cities of Houston and Galveston in 1836.
Borden's process for making sweetened condensed milk enabled the dairy product to be transported and stored without refrigeration and for longer periods than fresh milk. After returning to the New York area to market another product, he set up factories for condensed milk in Connecticut and later in New York and Illinois. Demand by the Union Army was high during the American Civil War. His New York Condensed Milk Company changed its name to Borden Dairy Co. after his death.