Standard Oil is a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company.
Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it is the largest oil refiner in the world and operates as a major company trust and is one of the world's first and largest multinational corporations until it is broken up by the United States Supreme Court in 1911.John D. Rockefeller is a founder, chairman and major shareholder.
As it grows exponentially and engages in business strategies, tactics and practices that are lawful but drive many smaller businesses under, Standard Oil becomes widely criticized in the public eye, even as it makes Rockefeller the richest man in modern history.
Other notable Standard Oil principals include Henry Flagler, developer of Florida's Florida East Coast Railway and resort cities, and Henry H. Rogers, who builds the Virginian Railway (VGN), a well-engineered highly efficient line dedicated to shipping southern West Virginia's bituminous coal to port at Hampton Roads.
