Chevron/Standard Oil

Standard Oil (1870–1911) was a large, integrated, oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing organization. more...

Introduction

It began as an Ohio partnership formed by John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner Stephen V. Harkness. Using highly effective and widely-criticized tactics, Standard Oil absorbed or destroyed most of its competition in Cleveland, Ohio, then throughout the Northeastern United States.

In response to state laws attempting to limit the scale of companies, Rockefeller and his partners had to develop innovative ways of organizing so that they could effectively manage their increasingly giant enterprise. In 1882, they combined their disparate companies spread across dozens of states under a single group of trustees. This organization proved so successful that other giant enterprises adopted this "trust" form. At the same time, state and federal laws sought to counter this development with "anti-trust" laws. Ohio successfully sued Standard Oil, compelling the dissolution of the trust in 1892. Standard Oil fought this decree, in essence separating off only Standard Oil of Ohio without reliquishing control of that company. Eventually, New Jersey changed its incorporation laws to allow a single company to hold shares in other companies in any state. Thus, in 1899, the Standard Oil Trust was legally reborn as a holding company.

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