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How Did Rockefeller Start A Monopoly

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John Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller started the United States’ first monopoly. Rockefeller is recorded as the seventh wealthiest person to ever live on Earth. Rockefeller used his huge amount of money to donate to many various philanthropic causes. He started his oil company in 1870 buying out many other competitors along the way. By 1882, Rockefeller had a monopoly and had control over 90% of the United States’ oil refineries.

John Davison Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York on July 8, 1839. His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was 14. As a teenager, Rockefeller did many small business jobs, getting his first office job at 16 as an assistant bookkeeper at Hewitt and Tuttle, who were merchants and produce shippers. He did well as all of his jobs, so at the age of 20, a business partner and he started working as merchants, selling meats, grains, hay, and other various things. After just one year, that company earned 450,000 dollars. Rockefeller felt there was a good opportunity in the oil business in the early 1860’s. So, he started his own oil refinery in Cleveland in 1863. By 1865, it was the largest refinery in the area. …show more content…

The company thrived immediately from the beginning so they started buying out their competitors. The company made very quick moves, so they eventually controlled most of the refineries in Cleveland. Then, they started to make deals with railroads to ship their oil and they started purchasing terminals and pipelines to handle the transportation of their oil. The Standard Oil Company started to buy their own plots of land for drilling and for lumber. By doing this, they started owning every part of the oil business. Standard then started buying out other competitors on the east and west coast. Through this, they established a monopoly, and controlled around 90% of the United States’ oil

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