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Birth
John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839. -
Childhood
As a child, his family was very poor. He sold candy as a way to earn money for food. -
High School
At the age of 16, while John was in High School, he was an office clerk in Cleveland. When he started the job on September 26, he considered it an "entrance into the business world." In this job, he gained many skills that an entrepreneur would have -
Cleveland Refinery
In 1863, Rockefeller and M.B. Clark opened the first refinery in Cleveland, Ohio. They had no idea what was in store for them. -
Marriage
In 1864, John got married to Laura Spelman. Laura was from Ohio and her father was an abolitionist in the Civil War. -
Standard Oil
Rockefeller knew Kerosene had a bad reputation. In 1870, he formed the Standard Oil Company, and it was an oil that America could trust. It became the largest producer of refined Kerosene in America. -
Monopoly
At the age of 33 years old, Rockefeller was the first American to have a monopoly. He owned 90% of the North American Oil Supply -
Pipelines
After his monopoly, he realized that he is paying Vanderbilt to ship his oil. Rockefeller figured out that he is losing money from that, so he decides to make his own pipelines that his oil travels in. The pipelines are over 4,000 miles long. -
Survival of the Fittest
Durning the Depression, Rockefeller knew what to do. He knew his competitors were broke, so he bought all the bankrupt companies at cheap prices. -
Panic of 1873
The panic triggered the 1st major depression. 1/3 of the countries 360 railroad companies have gone broke. America was so low, the stock exchange shut down for 10 whole days. Many workers were left jobless and hopeless. -
Scott & Carnegie
Tom Scott and Andrew Carnegie decide to build their own pipelines. This gets to Rockefeller and he looks at it as "Scott is invading his field", so he shuts down the pipelines that lead to Pittsburgh. Tome Scott loses a great amount of money. -
Tom Scott is Up in Flames
Tom Scott lost money after he built the pipelines. Therefore, he had to lay off many workers and cut wages. Scott's workers caught his train yards on fire. 39 buildings and 1200 cars were destroyed. -
1877
In 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt passes away. Even though Vanderbilt gave everything to his son, Rockefeller knew his competition wasn't as strong now. Rockefeller was still very competitive and did not like losing. -
J.P. Morgan
Morgan and Edison officially create the light bulb. Rockefeller's kerosene is not needed anymore for lighting. -
Death & Net Worth
Rockefeller passed away on May 23, 1937 and he was 97 years old. His net worth was $150,000,000 - or $225,000,000,000 in today's money.
