Robber barons were not only ruthless industrialists, but were also iconic to the time and very popular. Rockefeller Square, Carnegie Hall, and J.P. Morgan bank are just a few of the marks left on society today by these capitalist titans. Just one question remains: Who were the robber barons?John Davison Rockefeller was the greatest known, and richest robber baron of all time, in fact his net worth by the time he was dead was estimated at 318.3 billion dollars.
John Davison Rockefeller was the second of six children born in Richford, New York, to William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davison. When he was a boy, Rockefeller moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1853, and six years later he established his first enterprise; a commission business dealing in hay, grain, meats, and other goods. Sensing the commercial potential of the expanding oil production in western Pennsylvania in the early 1860s, he built his first oil refinery, near Cleveland, in 1863. Just within two years it was the largest refinery in the area, and thereafter Rockefeller devoted himself exclusively to the oil business.
In 1870, Rockefeller and a few associates incorporated the Standard Oil Company in Ohio. Because of Rockefeller's know how on economical operations, Standard Oil Company
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