John Rockefeller

John Rockefeller
HIS 125

John Rockefeller
John Rockefeller was an oil tycoon, industrialist and philanthropist who was born on   July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York. He grew up on a farm in Tioga County, New York as the second of six children. In 1853, John Rockefeller and his family moved from New York to Cleveland, Ohio. Two years later he graduated high school and began a business course. The course was supposed to be completed in six months, but he managed to complete it in three months. After completing the business course, he got a job as an assistant bookkeeper with the firm Hewitt and Turtle, a small firm of commission merchants and produce shippers. After being there for several months he attained the position of cashier and bookkeeper. In 1859 Rockefeller became a partner in a produce business and four years later with his partners he established an oil refinery [   (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1, 2011) ].   Within two years it was the largest refinery in the area, after that Rockefeller devoted himself to the oil industry. In 1870, Rockefeller and a few associates started Standard Oil Company in Ohio which started buying out their competitors and quickly became a monopoly. Rockefeller enforced strict economy and efficiency, through mergers and agreements with competitors, by ruthlessly crushing weaker competitors, and by accumulating large capital reserves, he soon dominated the market of the oil refining industry. In 1881 Rockefeller and his associates placed the stock of Standard of Ohio under the control of nine trustees, with Rockefeller at the head   [ (Biography.com, 2011) ]. By placing the stock under the control of the trustees, they thereby created the first major US “trust” and set a pattern of organization for other monopolies. The aggressive competitive practices of Standard Oil, which many regarded ruthless, and the growing public hostility toward monopolies, of which Standard was the best known, caused some industrialized...