On this day: Standard Oil incorporated

One of the worlds great monopolies began today—140 years ago. John Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil and built it in to a mega-corporation, which was dissolved by the trustbusting Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 (actually, it was dissolved by the courts as TR was out of office.)

Standard continued to be a dominant brand through the 1930s, but has slipped significantly since, as various Standard Oils (as the broken-up companies were called) were remerged and renamed. Exxon, Mobil, Amoco, Texaco, Chevron—all are descendants of Standard.