SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
SOUVENIR EDITION OF THE LOUISIANA CHRONICLE DEMOCRAT (1916)
STANDARD OIL BRINGS NEW INDUSTRY TO TOWN
STANDARD OIL OF New Jersey’s construction of an oil refinery on 225 acres of cotton fields just north of the city has been called by historian Mark Carleton “the most historically significant event that
occurred in Baton Rouge during the early twentieth century— perhaps ever.” When it opened in November 1909, it employed 700 and could process 1,800 barrels of crude per day. Within two
Energy devoted to jobs In 1917 the Refinery increased capacity for gasoline, once considered a waste product, to help fuel military efforts in WWI as well as the thousands of “horseless carriages” chugging across the nation. By 1923 the plant area had tripled, and mobile units were needed to feed a workforce that exceeded 2,000. By 1929 the Baton Rouge Refinery was the largest of its kind in the world; today it remains the fourth largest refinery in the nation and the largest manufacturing employer in Louisiana. Standard Oil of Louisiana, the original company name, issued the first paychecks in 1926; the monthly payroll was nearly $1 million. Today ExxonMobil’s payroll is $491 million annually, with area residents earning $1.3 billion via the economic ripple effect. The Baton Rouge Complex provides 35,742 indirect jobs for Louisianans—greater than the total employment in 49 of the 64 parishes in the state. —Photo provided by Judge Melvin & Marna Shortess from the collection of John Adam Bechtold.
years, Standard Oil controlled the state’s transportation of oil and its refinement, in contrast with Texas, where local independent oilmen produced oil. By 1920, the refinery employed 3,000 men.