The History From Standard Oil to ExxonMobil

John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust is one of the most famous industrial organizations ever. The Trust controlled a lion's share of the production, transport, refining, and marketing of petroleum products in the United States and many other countries. Originally, this Trust was an attempt to cash in on the lucrative home lighting market which was converting from whale oil to kerosene. The emergence of the automobile and its thirst for the formerly near worthless refining by-product called gasoline brought dizzying wealth to this industrial group. The 1911 decision to break up the Trust had the result of making the seperate pieces more valubale than the whole was, and stock prices rose sharply. When he was informed of the US Supreme Court's descision to breakup of Standard Oil, Mr. Rockefeller turned to his golfing partner and said, "Father Lennon, have you some money?" And the priest was very startled by the question and said, "No." And then he said, "Why?" And Rockefeller replied, "Buy Standard Oil." (1) The break up of Standard Oil mirrors a more modern monopoly breakup - AT&T - a.k.a. The Bell System, "Ma Bell". Both developed ubiquitous brand names: Bell for telephone service, Standard for oil. Like the "Baby Bells", many of the "Baby Standards" kept the old company identity as they went into business for themselves. Unlike the various Bell companies, they were restricted from using Standard name in each other's territory. They defended the exclusive territorial rights to the name vigorously. Both fractured entities rose again to dominate the market and became more valuable than the original parent. More Standard Oil Companies were created as some successor organizations declined to use the venerable Standard name in favor of pre-trust identities and the other Standards expanded into those marketing areas. As national advertising and travel blossomed, the various Standards ended up in competition, often adopting the names of smaller oil companies they had purchased. The goal of this site is to track the history of the Baby Standards, discovering what became of Rockefeller's petroleum powerhouse.