Harry sinclair oil company

"Probably no other company in all the history of oil has grown as rapidly in all the branches of the business as the Sinclair Oil & Refining Corporation has since it was organized less than two years ago."
The Oil City Derrick, trade publication

The “country boy operation” soon earned national attention

Midwestern salesmen called Sinclair Oil a "country boy operation." The bankers, less romantic, described it as shoestring financing. Harry Sinclair started with no organization, no technological skills and little administrative education. Yet thanks to his talent for acquiring great prospects and great people – including refining genius W. H. Isom and sagacious director Joseph M. Cudahy – Sinclair Oil & Refining Corporation increased its assets by 40 percent to $70 million in its first 14 months.

In 1919, Mr. Sinclair restructured Sinclair Oil and Refining Corp. and Sinclair Gulf Corp. into Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corp., with capital assets of more than $178 million – a truly integrated structure that encompassed every process of the industry, from crude oil production to marketing, both at home and abroad. The Sinclair domain was now four times the size of the original company.

American businessman and oilman (1876-1956)

Harry Ford Sinclair (July 6, 1876 – November 10, 1956) was an American industrialist, and the founder of Sinclair Oil. He was implicated in the 1920s Teapot Dome scandal, and served six months in prison for contempt of Congress. Although this harmed his reputation, he returned to his former life and enjoyed its prosperity until his death.

Sinclair was an avid owner of sports properties, one of the principal financial backers of baseball's Federal League and a force in U.S. thoroughbred racing. Horses from his stable won the Kentucky Derby and three Belmont Stakes.

Early life

Harry Sinclair was born in Benwood, West Virginia, now a suburb of the city of Wheeling. Sinclair grew up in Independence, Kansas. The son of a pharmacist, after finishing high school, he entered the pharmacy department of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence. He was working as a pharmacist in 1901 when the business failed. He then began selling lumber for derricks in the oil fields of southeastern Kansas. On the side, he started speculating in oil leases. The opportunity in the rapidly expanding oil industry saw him become a lease broker and acquire an interest in the White Oil Company. In 1904, Sinclair married Elizabeth Farrell of Independence, Kansas. By the time he was thirty, he had become a millionaire.

Oil business

In 1910, four businessmen: Eugene Frank Blaise, Charles J. Wrightsman, William Connelly, and Harry F. Sinclair bought the failed Farmers National Bank in Tulsa. They created a new entity, Exchange National Bank, and named Sinclair as president. This bank, later renamed as the National Bank of Tulsa, was a forerunner of the present Bank of Oklahoma.

On May 1, 1916, the highly successful Sinclair formed Sinclair Oil from the assets of eleven small petroleum companies. In the same year, he bought the Cudahy Refining

American petroleum company (1916–2022)

For other uses of "Sinclair", see Sinclair (disambiguation).

Sinclair Oil Corporation was an American petroleumcorporation founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916. The Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation amalgamated the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corporation, Sinclair Oil reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976. The corporate logo featured the silhouette of a large green Brontosaurusdinosaur, based on the then-common idea that oil deposits beneath the earth came from the dead bodies of dinosaurs.

Sinclair was ranked as one of the largest privately owned American corporations. It owned and operated refineries, gas stations, hotels, a ski resort, and a cattle ranch.

History

Sinclair has long been a fixture on American roads with its dinosaur logo and mascot, an Apatosaurus.

1916–1969

During September 1919, Harry Sinclair restructured Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation, Sinclair Gulf Corporation, and 26 other related entities into Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation. In 1932, this new entity was renamed Consolidated Oil Corporation. In 1943, it was renamed Sinclair Oil Corporation.

Near the beginning of the Great Depression, Sinclair sold the remaining interest in its pipeline subsidiary to Standard Oil Company (Indiana) for US$72.5 million (Standard Oil had purchased a 50% interest in the pipeline subsidiary in 1921). With these funds, including an additional US$33.5 million from an additional common stock issue, Sinclair retired several promissory notes and prepared to weather the Depression with the remaining supply of cash.

Between 1921 and 1922, Sinclair leased oil production rights to Teapot Dome in Wyoming without competitive bidding. This led to the Teapot Dome scandal.

At the same time, Sinclair Oil was approached

Sinclair has had a wild ride so far, but we’ve stayed the course – and we’re looking forward to the next leg of the journey.

The legendary Harry F. Sinclair

Perhaps the best thing that could’ve happened to 20-year-old Harry F. Sinclair was losing nearly everything he owned in a bad speculation – including the drug store his father had left him. Harry was a brilliant, stubborn, ambitious risk-taker, and a druggist’s life was far too tame for him.

Harry set his sights on the oil business, starting small, selling lumber to oil derricks while buying and selling leases on the side. He had a nose for productive oil sites, and soon he was picking up support from wealthy investors.

By age 31, Harry was the richest man in Kansas. In 1916, at age 40, he officially formed Sinclair Oil Corporation out of the assets of 11 small petroleum companies, and by the late ‘20s, it was the seventh largest oil company in the United States.

DINO the dinosaur

Dinosaurs first appeared in Sinclair marketing in 1930 as part of a campaign to educate customers on the origin of fossil fuels. The Apatosaurus (then thought a Brontosaurus) quickly surpassed the T-Rex and Triceratops in popularity, and by 1932, we had registered DINO as a trademark.

The dinosaurs appeared again as life-sized fiberglass models at the 1964 World’s Fair – and you can still see many of those models in state parks and museums across the country.

Sinclair today

Sinclair is now one of the oldest continuous brands in the energy business, and our dinosaur is one of the most recognized icons in Americana. In 2022, Sinclair Oil joined with the former HollyFrontier Corporation to become HF Sinclair (NYSE:DINO).

Travel back in time with DINO

Explore Our History     Download Our eBook     DINO History