1837–1937

Both John Rockefeller and his son left their marks (and their names) on the city through commercial undertakings like the skyscrapers of Rockefeller Center and philanthropic projects like the Rockefeller Foundation. The original fortune that funded all these projects came from oil. Rockefeller Sr. started the Standard Oil Company of New York in 1859, and by the end of the century it had attained a near monopoly over oil in the United States, with heavy vertical integration of production, refining, and distribution. In 1912 the company was dissolved by the Supreme Court, but Rockefeller’s immense fortune remained—equivalent to more than $20 billion today.