1.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
Texas oil boom
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The find was unprecedented in its size and ushered in an age of rapid regional development and industrialization that has few parallels in U. S. history. Texas quickly became one of the oil producing states in the U. S. along with Oklahoma and California. By 1940 Texas had come to dominate U. S. production, some historians even define the beginning of the worlds Oil Age as the beginning of this era in Texas. Spindletop and the Joiner strike in East Texas, at the outset of the Great Depression, were the key strikes that launched this era of change in the state and this period had a transformative effect on Texas. At the turn of the century, the state was predominantly rural with no large cities, by the end of World War II, the state was heavily industrialized, and the populations of Texas cities had broken into the top 20 nationally. The city of Houston was among the greatest beneficiaries of the boom, the city grew from a small commercial center in 1900 to one of the largest cities in the United States during the decades following the era. This period, however, changed all of Texas commercial centers and developed the Beaumont/Port Arthur area, H. Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Sid W. Richardson, and Clint Murchison were the four most influential businessmen during this era. These men became among the wealthiest and most politically powerful in the state, several events in the 19th century have been regarded as a beginning of oil-related growth in Texas, one of the earliest being the opening of the Corsicana oil field in 1894. The Spindletop strike of 1901, at the time the worlds most productive petroleum well ever found, is considered by most historians as the beginning point and this single discovery began a rapid pattern of change in Texas and brought worldwide attention to the state. As production peaked in some of smaller fields and the Great Depression lowered demand. In the major refining and manufacturing such as Beaumont, Houston, and Dallas. By the end of the war, the economies of the urban areas of the state had matured. Localized booms in West Texas and other areas, however, continued to some small communities during the post-war period. Following the American Civil War, Texass economy began to develop rapidly centered heavily on cattle ranching and cotton farming, Galveston became the worlds top cotton shipping port and Texas largest commercial center. By 1890, however, Dallas had exceeded Galvestons population, in 1900 a massive hurricane struck Galveston, destroying much of the city. That and another storm in 1915 shifted much of the focus from investors away from Galveston and toward nearby Houston, because of these events, the coming oil boom became heavily centered on the city of Houston both as a port and a commercial center. In the 1850s, the process to distill kerosene from petroleum was invented by Abraham Gesner, the demand for the petroleum as a fuel for lighting around the world quickly grew. Petroleum exploration developed in parts of the world with the Russian Empire, particularly the Branobel company in Azerbaijan
3.
Salt dome
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A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock strata, forming a diapir. It is important in geology because salt structures are impermeable. The formation of a salt dome begins with the deposition of salt in a marine basin. This indicates that a period of episodic flooding and evaporation of the basin must occur. Over time, the layer of salt is covered with deposited sediment, the overlying sediment will undergo compaction, causing an increase in density and therefore a decrease in buoyancy. Unlike clastics, pressure has a smaller effect on the density of salt due to its crystal structure. The ductility of salt initially allows it to deform and flow laterally. The vertical growth of these salt pillows creates pressure on the surface, causing extension. Possible forces that drive the flow of salt are differential loading on the source layer, forces that resist this flow are the mass of the roof block and the blocks inherent resistance to faulting, aka strength. If the diapir is narrow its height must be greater, eventually, over millions of years, the salt will pierce and break through the overlying sediment, first as a dome-shaped and then a mushroom-shaped - fully formed salt diapir. If the rising salt diapir breaches the surface, it can become a salt glacier. In cross section, these large domes may be anywhere from 1 to 10 kilometres across, typical structures of active diapirism are a central crestal graben flanked by flaps that rotate upward and outward. Reverse faults can separate the flaps from the overburden, normal faults create the crestal graben and propagate downward. New faults form farther outward as the dome arch becomes more intense and these structures occur beneath the surface and are not necessarily associated with the dome at the surface. Emergence of the dome will not occur unless the dome is very wide or tall relative to the overburdens thickness, if a salt dome has not pierced the surface they can found located beneath the surface in various ways. The unique surficial structures can be observed as indicating the salt dome beneath the surface, Salt domes can also be interpreted from seismic reflection where the stark density contrast between the salt and surrounding sediments outlines the salt structures. Salt domes can also be associated with springs and natural gas vents. The first salt dome was discovered in 1890 when an oil well was drilled into Spindletop Hill near Beaumont TX
4.
Evaporite
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Evaporite is a name for a water-soluble mineral sediment that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of deposits, marine, which can also be described as ocean deposits, and non-marine. Evaporites are considered sedimentary rocks and are formed by chemical sediments, although all water bodies on the surface and in aquifers contain dissolved salts, the water must evaporate into the atmosphere for the minerals to precipitate. For this to happen, the body must enter a restricted environment where water input into this environment remains below the net rate of evaporation. This is usually an arid environment with a basin fed by a limited input of water. When evaporation occurs, the water is enriched in salts. Marine evaporites tend to have thicker deposits and are usually the focus of extensive research. They also have a system of evaporation, when scientists evaporate ocean water in a laboratory, the minerals are deposited in a defined order that was first demonstrated by Usiglio in 1884. The first phase of the experiment begins when about 50% of the water depth remains. At this point, minor carbonates begin to form, the next phase in the sequence comes when the experiment is left with about 20% of its original level. At this point, the mineral gypsum begins to form, which is followed by halite at 10%. Kieserite may also be included, which often make up less than four percent of the overall content. However, there are approximately 80 different minerals that have been reported found in evaporite deposits, common minerals that are found in these deposits include blödite, borax, epsomite, gaylussite, glauberite, mirabilite, thenardite and trona. Non-marine deposits may also contain halite, gypsum, and anhydrite and this, however, does not make non-marine deposits any less important, these deposits often help to paint a picture into past Earth climates. Some particular deposits even show important tectonic and climatic changes and these deposits also may contain important minerals that help in todays economy. Thick non-marine deposits that tend to form where evaporation rates will exceed the inflow rate. The inflow also has to occur in a basin, or one with restricted outflow, so that the sediment has time to pool. Primary examples of this are called saline lake deposits, examples of modern non-marine depositional environments include the Great Salt Lake in Utah and the Dead Sea, which lies between Jordan and Israel
5.
Jurassic
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The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that spans 56.3 million years from the end of the Triassic Period 201.3 million years ago to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles, the start of the period is marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. The Jurassic is named after the Jura Mountains within the European Alps, by the beginning of the Jurassic, the supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. This created more coastlines and shifted the continental climate from dry to humid, on land, the fauna transitioned from the Triassic fauna, dominated by both dinosauromorph and crocodylomorph archosaurs, to one dominated by dinosaurs alone. The first birds also appeared during the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs, other major events include the appearance of the earliest lizards, and the evolution of therian mammals, including primitive placentals. Crocodilians made the transition from a terrestrial to a mode of life. The oceans were inhabited by marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, the chronostratigraphic term Jurassic is directly linked to the Jura Mountains. The name Jura is derived from the Celtic root jor, which was Latinised into juria, the Jurassic period is divided into the Early Jurassic, Middle, and Late Jurassic epochs. The Jurassic System, in stratigraphy, is divided into the Lower Jurassic, Middle, the separation of the term Jurassic into three sections goes back to Leopold von Buch. The Jurassic North Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow, while the South Atlantic did not open until the following Cretaceous period, the Tethys Sea closed, and the Neotethys basin appeared. Climates were warm, with no evidence of glaciation, as in the Triassic, there was apparently no land over either pole, and no extensive ice caps existed. In contrast, the North American Jurassic record is the poorest of the Mesozoic, the Jurassic was a time of calcite sea geochemistry in which low-magnesium calcite was the primary inorganic marine precipitate of calcium carbonate. Carbonate hardgrounds were thus very common, along with calcitic ooids, calcitic cements, the first of several massive batholiths were emplaced in the northern American cordillera beginning in the mid-Jurassic, marking the Nevadan orogeny. Important Jurassic exposures are found in Russia, India, South America, Japan, Australasia. As the Jurassic proceeded, larger and more groups of dinosaurs like sauropods and ornithopods proliferated in Africa. Middle Jurassic strata are well represented nor well studied in Africa. Late Jurassic strata are also poorly represented apart from the spectacular Tendaguru fauna in Tanzania, the Late Jurassic life of Tendaguru is very similar to that found in western North Americas Morrison Formation. During the Jurassic period, the primary living in the sea were fish
6.
Gulf Oil
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Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the Mellon family fortune, both Gulf and Mellon Financial had their headquarters in Pittsburgh. Gulfs former headquarters, originally referred to as the Gulf Building, is an art-deco skyscraper, the tallest building in Pittsburgh until 1970, when it was eclipsed by the U. S. Steel Tower, it is capped by a step pyramid structure several stories high. Until the late 1970s, the top was illuminated, changing color with changes in barometric pressure to provide a weather indicator that could be seen for many miles. Gulf Oil Corporation ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, Gulf Canada, Gulfs main Canadian subsidiary, was sold the same year with retail outlets to Ultramar and Petro Canada and what became Gulf Canada Resources to Olympia & York. However, the Gulf brand name and a number of the constituent business divisions of GOC survived, Gulf has experienced a significant revival since 1990, emerging as a flexible network of allied business interests based on partnerships, franchises and agencies. Gulf, in its present incarnation, is a new economy business and it employs very few people directly and its assets are mainly in the form of intellectual property, brands, product specifications and scientific expertise. The corporate vehicle at the center of the Gulf network outside the United States, Spain and Portugal is Gulf Oil International, a company owned by the Hinduja Group. The companys focus is primarily in the provision of products and services to a mass market through joint ventures, strategic alliances, licensing agreements. Gulf Oil International has its office in the City of Westminster. The business that became Gulf Oil started in 1901 with the discovery of oil at Spindletop near Beaumont, a group of investors came together to promote the development of a modern refinery at nearby Port Arthur to process the oil. The largest investor was William Larimer Mellon of the Pittsburgh Mellon banking family, other investors included many of Mellons Pennsylvania clients as well as some Texas wildcatters. Mellon Bank and Gulf Oil remained closely associated thereafter, the Gulf Oil Corporation itself was formed in 1907 through the amalgamation of a number of oil businesses, principally the J. M. Guffey Petroleum and Gulf Refining companies of Texas. The name of the company refers to the Gulf of Mexico where Beaumont lies, output from Spindletop peaked at around 100,000 barrels per day just after it was discovered and then started to decline. This was achieved by constructing the 400-mile Glenn Pool pipeline connecting oilfields in Oklahoma with Gulfs refinery at Port Arthur, the pipeline opened in September 1907. Gulf later built a network of pipelines and refineries in the eastern and southern United States, thus, Gulf Oil provided Mellon Bank with a secure vehicle for investing in the oil sector. Gulf promoted the concept of branded product sales by selling gasoline in containers, a customer buying Gulf-branded gasoline could be assured of its quality and consistent standard. Gulf Oil grew steadily in the years, with its activities mainly confined to the United States
7.
Texaco
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Texaco, Inc. is an American oil subsidiary of Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel Texaco with Techron and it also owns the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until its operations merged into Chevron Corporation in 2001. It began as the Texas Fuel Company, founded in 1901 in Beaumont, Texas, by Joseph S. Cullinan, Thomas J. Donoghue, Walter Benona Sharp, and Arnold Schlaet upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop. For many years, Texaco was the company selling gasoline under the same brand name in all 50 US states, as well as Canada. It was also one of the Seven Sisters which dominated the petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. Its current logo features a star in a red circle. The company was headquartered in Harrison, New York, near White Plains, Texaco gasoline comes with Techron, an additive developed by Chevron, as of 2005, replacing the previous CleanSystem3. The Texaco brand is strong in the U. S and it has a presence in Europe as well, for example, it is a well-known retail brand in the UK, with around 1,100 Texaco-branded service stations. Texaco was founded in Beaumont, Texas as the Texas Fuel Company in 1901, in 1905, it established an operation in Antwerp, Belgium, under the name Continental Petroleum Company, which it acquired control of in 1913. The next year, Texaco moved to new offices in Houston on the corner of San Jacinto, in 1928, Texaco became the first U. S. oil company to sell its gasoline nationwide under one single brand name in all 48 states. In 1931, Texaco purchased Indian Oil Company, based in Illinois and this expanded Texacos refining and marketing base in the Midwest and also gave Texaco the rights to Indians Havoline motor oil, which became a Texaco product. It was promoted through a program over NBC hosted by Ed Wynn. In 1936, the Texas Corporation purchased the Barco oil concession in Colombia, over the next three years the company engaged in a highly challenging project to drill wells and build a pipeline to the coast across mountains and then through uncharted swamps and jungles. During this time, Texaco also illegally supplied the fascist Gen. Franco faction in Spanish Civil War, despite a federal fine, the next year, Texaco commissioned industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague to develop a modern service station design. In 1938, Texaco introduced Sky Chief gasoline, a premium fuel developed from the ground up as a high-octane gasoline rather than just a regular product. ”This espionage easily enabled Hitler to destroy the ships. During the war, Texaco ranked 93rd among United States corporations in the value of military production contracts, in 1947, Caltex expanded to include Texacos European marketing operations. That same year, Texaco merged its British operation with Trinidad Leaseholds under the name Regent, it gained control of Regent in 1956
8.
Chevron Corporation
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Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. One of the companies of Standard Oil, it is headquartered in San Ramon, California. It was also one of the Seven Sisters that dominated the petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. Chevrons downstream operations manufacture and sell products such as fuels, lubricants, additives, the companys most significant areas of operations are the west coast of North America, the U. S. Gulf Coast, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Australia and South Africa. In 2010, Chevron sold an average 3.1 million barrels per day of refined products like gasoline, diesel, Chevrons alternative energy operations include geothermal, solar, wind power, biofuel, fuel cells, and hydrogen. In 2011–2013, the company planned to spend at least $2 billion on research, Chevron has claimed to be the worlds largest producer of geothermal energy. In October 2011, Chevron launched a 29-MW thermal solar-to-steam facility in the Coalinga Field to produce the steam for enhanced oil recovery, the project is the largest of its kind in the world. Chevron is also one of the first two brands to be Top Tier certified. The other is Tulsa, Oklahoma based QuikTrip, one of Chevrons early predecessors, Star Oil, discovered oil at the Pico Canyon Oilfield in the Santa Susana Mountains north of Los Angeles in 1876. The 25 barrels of oil per day well marked the discovery of the Newhall Field, in September 1879, Charles N. Felton, Lloyd Tevis, George Loomis and others created the Pacific Coast Oil Company, which acquired the assets of Star Oil with $1 million in funding. Pacific Coast Oil became the largest oil interest in California, by time it was acquired by Standard Oil for $761,000 in 1900. Pacific Coast operated independently and retained its name until 1906, when it was merged with a Standard Oil subsidiary, another predecessor, Texas Fuel Company, was founded in 1901 in Beaumont, Texas as an oil equipment vendor by Buckskin Joe. The founders nickname came from being harsh and aggressive, Texas Fuel worked closely with Chevron. In 1936 it formed a joint venture with California Standard named Caltex, to drill, the Texas Fuel Company was renamed the Texas Company, and later renamed Texaco. In 1911, the government broke Standard Oil into several pieces under the Sherman Antitrust Act. One of those pieces, Standard Oil Co. went on to become Chevron and it became part of the Seven Sisters, which dominated the world oil industry in the early 20th century. In 1926, the changed its name to Standard Oil Co. of California. Today Chevron is the owner of the Standard Oil trademark in 16 states in the western and southeastern U. S, to maintain ownership of the mark, the company owns and operates one Standard-branded Chevron station in each state of the area
9.
Spring (hydrology)
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A spring is any natural situation where water flows from an aquifer to the Earths surface. It is a component of the hydrosphere, a spring may be the result of karst topography where surface water has infiltrated the Earths surface, becoming part of the area groundwater. The groundwater then travels through a network of cracks and fissure—openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves, the water eventually emerges from below the surface, in the form of a karst spring. The forcing of the spring to the surface can be the result of an aquifer in which the recharge area of the spring water table rests at a higher elevation than that of the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources are artesian wells and this is possible even if the outlet is in the form of a 300-foot-deep cave. In this case the cave is used like a hose by the higher elevated area of groundwater to exit through the lower elevation opening. Non-artesian springs may simply flow from a higher elevation through the earth to a lower elevation, still other springs are the result of pressure from an underground source in the earth, in the form of volcanic activity. The result can be water at elevated temperature such as a hot spring, the action of the groundwater continually dissolves permeable bedrock such as limestone and dolomite, creating vast cave systems. The term seep refers to springs with small flow rates in which the water has filtered through permeable earth. Fracture springs, discharge from faults, joints, or fissures in the earth, tubular springs, in which the water flows from underground caverns. Spring discharge, or resurgence, is determined by the springs recharge basin, factors that affect the recharge include the size of the area in which groundwater is captured, the amount of precipitation, the size of capture points, and the size of the spring outlet. Water may leak into the system from many sources including permeable earth, sinkholes. In some cases entire creeks seemingly disappear as the water sinks into the ground via the stream bed, grand Gulf State Park in Missouri is an example of an entire creek vanishing into the groundwater system. The water emerges 9 miles away, forming some of the discharge of Mammoth Spring in Arkansas, human activity may also affect a springs discharge--withdrawal of groundwater reduces the water pressure in an aquifer, decreasing the volume of flow. Springs are often classified by the volume of the water they discharge, the largest springs are called first-magnitude, defined as springs that discharge water at a rate of at least 2800 liters or 100 cubic feet of water per second. The scale for spring flow is as follows, Minerals become dissolved in the water as it moves through the underground rocks and this may give the water flavor and even carbon dioxide bubbles, depending on the nature of the geology through which it passes. This is why spring water is bottled and sold as mineral water. Springs that contain significant amounts of minerals are sometimes called mineral springs, Springs that contain large amounts of dissolved sodium salts, mostly sodium carbonate, are called soda springs
10.
Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. The city proper has a population of 304,391. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U. S. The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclines, a fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment, Americas 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out. The area has served also as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research. The area is home to 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University, the region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, sustainable energy, and energy extraction. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. The current pronunciation, which is unusual in English speaking countries, is almost certainly a result of a printing error in some copies of the City Charter of March 18,1816. The error was repeated commonly enough throughout the rest of the 19th century that the pronunciation was lost. After a public campaign the original spelling was restored by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1911. The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee, the first known European to enter the region was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century, Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers, during 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalles 1669 claims, the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne, the British and colonial force were defeated at Braddocks Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758, Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named Pittsborough
11.
Boomtown
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A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. Early boomtowns, such as Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester, experienced a surge in population. In pre-industrial England these towns had been relative backwaters, compared to the important market towns of Bristol, Norwich, and York. In the mid-19th century, boomtowns based on natural resources began to proliferate as companies, the biggest boomtown in the early 21st century is in North Dakota, where oil fields are being exploited. Often, boomtowns are the site of economic prosperity and social disruption, as the local culture and infrastructure, if any. Sometimes, all or nearly the population can desert the town. This can also place on a planned basis. Joseph, Florida San Francisco, California, US settlement after winning Mexican War San Luis, Arizona Seattle, Washington, became a prosperous port city during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897
12.
Standard Oil
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Standard Oil Co. Inc. was an American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller as a corporation in Ohio and its controversial history as one of the worlds first and largest multinational corporations ended in 1911, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly. The Standard Oil trust streamlined production and logistics, lowered costs, trust-busting critics accused Standard Oil of using aggressive pricing to destroy competitors and form a monopoly that threatened other businesses. John D. Rockefeller was a founder, chairman and major shareholder and its successors such as ExxonMobil, BP, and Chevron are still counted among the companies with the largest income worldwide. By 1882, his top aide was John Dustin Archbold, after 1896, Rockefeller disengaged from business to concentrate on his philanthropy, leaving Archbold in control. Other notable Standard Oil principals include Henry Flagler, developer of the Florida East Coast Railway and resort cities, and Henry H. Rogers, Standard Oils name came from the companys manufacturing standards, which preceded todays ASTM standards. In 1870 Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil in Ohio, of the initial 10,000 shares, John D. In the early years, John D. Rockefeller dominated the combine and he quickly distributed power and the tasks of policy formation to a system of committees, but always remained the largest shareholder. Authority was centralized in the main office in Cleveland. In response to state trying to limit the scale of companies, Rockefeller and his associates developed innovative ways of organizing. On January 2,1882, they combined their disparate companies, spread across dozens of states and this organization proved so successful that other giant enterprises adopted this trust form. The company grew by increasing sales and also through acquisitions, after purchasing competing firms, Rockefeller shut down those he believed to be inefficient and kept the others. Smaller companies decried such deals as unfair because they were not producing enough oil to qualify for discounts, in 1872, Rockefeller joined the South Improvement Co. which would have allowed him to receive rebates for shipping and receive drawbacks on oil his competitors shipped. But when this became known, competitors convinced the Pennsylvania Legislature to revoke South Improvements charter. No oil was shipped under this arrangement. Standards actions and secret transport deals helped its kerosene price to drop from 58 to 26 cents from 1865 to 1870, competitors disliked the companys business practices, but consumers liked the lower prices. Standard Oil, being formed well before the discovery of the Spindletop oil field, the company was perceived to own and control all aspects of the trade. In 1885, Standard Oil of Ohio moved its headquarters from Cleveland to its permanent headquarters at 26 Broadway in New York City
