Born in 1839, John D. Rockefeller was an American industrialist and philanthropist who built an oil empire by guaranteeing a uniform quality grade for his standard oil. He was one of the richest men in history. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company was perhaps one of the most powerful monopoly in America. At the time of his death, his wealth was estimated to be worth over half a-trillion dollars.

At the young age of sixteen, Rockefeller began attending community college. He was a student for three months until he found his first job as a produce clerk at a Cleveland commission firm where Rockefeller was the person who bought and sold commodities for clients for a commission. The firm bought and sold shipped grain, coal, and other raw materials. After three months, he was given a raise and became the cashier and bookkeeper for the firm. ¹ At the age of nineteen, in 1859, Rockefeller borrowed money from his father and began his first business venture with Maurice B. Clark. They formed their own commission firm. Clark handled all the work in the field, while Rockefeller managed all of the bookkeeping and bank issues. They experienced great success the first year, bringing in $450,000 from buying and trading farm produce and supplies.² Within that same year the first refinery was erected in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Cleveland became a refining center for the booming new industry, and in 1863, Rockefeller and Clark entered the oil business as refiners. With Samuel Andrews, who had plenty of experience in refining, joining the business, they now operated an oil refinery as well as the commission business. Within two years Clark was bought out by Rockefeller for $72,000. The new firm was named Rockefeller & Andrew, and promptly their business became Cleveland’s largest refinery.³

Shortly afterwards, Rockefeller partnered with his younger brother William, along with S. V. Harkness and H. M. Flagler, who helped set up favorable freight rates on the railroad. By 1870, the use of kerosene was rapidly spreading for the use of lighting. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and within a year they were a one million dollar corporation making forty percent profit.⁴ Rockefeller bought out most of Cleveland’s refineries, as well as New York, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Rockefeller next turned to new transportation methods: railroads and pipelines. The Pennsylvania Railroad opened up a refinery in an attempt to stop Rockefeller from buying them out. By 1879, Standard Oil became a full industry monopoly by buying out rival refineries and distributing and marketing its products around the world. Standard Oil controlled ninety percent of America’s oil. In 1882, Rockefeller’s properties were combined into the Standard Oil Trust, which ensured that no one would ever be able to buy him out. Standard Oil Trust had an investment of seventy million, and there were forty-two certificate holders, or owners in the trust.⁵ Rockefeller was a target for muckraking, and people viewed him as greedy and selfish. He was a man who bribed other men to spy on competing companies, or threatened rivals to join the Standard Oil Trust, and he had no problem getting richer by the downfall of other men and their companies.

By 1890, the Ohio Supreme Court dissolved the Standard Oil Trust. However, the business was part of Standard Oil of New Jersey and was considered a holding company. Due to its legal designation it could not be touched. By 1911, after many years of arguing in court, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil of New Jersey was in violation of the anti-trust laws and forced it to break up into more than thirty individual companies.⁶ That same year Rockefeller retired from Standard Oil and made a deal with Andrew Carnegie (a Scottish immigrant who made a fortune in the steel industry). Rockefeller sold Carnegie all his investment holdings. In this new role he handled all of Carnegie’s transportation on the Great Lakes. Rockefeller brought in 200 million dollars for the first time.⁷  In truth, he was not driven solely by profits. Rockefeller became a philanthropist donating to various educational schools, all kinds of religious churches, and scientific causes, and he funded the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller University. The total of Rockefeller’s philanthropies totaled an estimated 900 million dollars.⁸ He died at the age of ninety-seven, on May 23, 1937.

The impact of Rockefeller and his genius and business acumen are impossible to ignore. He is an icon in America history. In the end, Rockefeller had accomplished his goals. He did not let anything stop him and his ideas from coming to reality. He was a very smart man and used all his knowledge in creating and becoming one of the richest of men, greatest of philanthropists, and a very powerful man. He made a fortune and lived a simple life giving back to society. He made a promise to himself that he would give back ten percent of what he made and he did just that until his death.