John Dustin Archbold

John Dustin Archbold (July 26, 1848 in Leesburg, Ohio – December 6, 1916 in Tarrytown, New York) was an American capitalist and one of the United States' earliest oil refiners. His small oil company was bought out by John D Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. Archbold rose rapidly at Standard Oil, handling many of the complex secret negotiations over the years. By 1882 he was Rockefeller's closest associate, and typically acted as the company's primary spokesman. Rockefeller after 1896 left business matters to Archbold while he pursued his philanthropy; as vice president Archbold effectively ran Standard Oil until his death in 1916. Inspired by Rockefeller's policies, Archbold's main goals were stabilization, efficiency, and minimizing waste in refining and distributing petroleum products. The company was broken up by the Supreme Court in 1911 into three dozen smaller operations, Archbold became president of the largest one, Standard Oil of New Jersey.

Archbold was born to Methodist minister Reverend Israel Archbold and Frances Foster Dana (Archbold) in Leesburg, Ohio. After being educated in public schools, he moved to Pennsylvania by 1864.

On February 20, 1870 Archbold married Annie Eliza Mills, "daughter of Samuel Myers Mills of Titusville and Lavinia Jenkins." The couple had four children:

• Mary Lavina Archbold (b 1871)
• Anne Mills Archbold (b 1873), mother of John Dana Archbold
• Frances Dana Archbold (b 1875)
• John Foster Archbold (b 1877-1930), father of zoologist Richard Archbold

In 1885, Archbold purchased a large mansion in Tarrytown, New York. The estate, called Cedar Cliff, was located at 279 S. Broadway just across from the Carmelite Transfiguration Church.

John Dustin Archbold

Standard Oil Company

In 1864 Archbold went to the north-west Pennsylvania oil fields and spent 11 years in the oil industry there. When John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company began buying up refiners in this oil-rich region, many independent refiners felt squeezed out, and Archbold was among Standard's harshest and loudest critics. In 1885 after becoming skeptical of reports of oil discoveries in Oklahoma, he sold-out at a loss, saying “I’ll drink every gallon produced west of the Mississippi!”

Archbold was subsequently recruited by Rockefeller to Standard Oil, where he became a director and served as its vice-president and president until its dissolution in 1911. In 1911-1916 Archbold was president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.

Archbold Stadium, Syracuse University

Syracuse University

In 1886 Archbold became a member of the board of trustees of Syracuse University, and was the board’s president from 1893 until his death in 1916. From 1893 to 1914, he contributed nearly $6,000,000 for eight buildings, including the full cost of Archbold Stadium (opened 1907, demolished 1978; the Carrier Dome was built on this site), Sims Hall (men's dormitory, 1907), Archbold Gymnasium (1908, nearly destroyed by fire in 1947, but still in use), and the oval athletic field.

1912 political cartoon (Thomas E. Powers, US Library of Congress)

Theodore Roosevelt scandal

Archbold was involved in a scandalous affair involving monetary gifts to the Republican Party. In 1912 he was called to testify before a committee which was investigating political contributions made by the Standard Oil Company to the campaign funds of political parties. He claimed that President Theodore Roosevelt was aware of the $125,000 contribution made by Standard Oil Company to the 1904 campaign fund of the Republican Party, but President Roosevelt produced letters written by him which directed his campaign managers to return such monetary contributions if they were offered.

Assassination attempt

In 1915 an attempt was made by anarchists and Industrial Workers of the World radicals to assassinate Archbold at Cedar Cliff by planting a large dynamite bomb at the entrance to the estate. The bomb, which failed to go off, was discovered by Archbold's gardener. Police suspected that the attempted bombing was precipitated by the execution by firing squad of 'Joe Hill', alias Joseph Hillstrom in Salt Lake City, Utah the day before. Joe Hill was an IWW member, songwriter and labor organizer who had been convicted of murder.

The Archbold Mausoleum, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, New York

Main Entrance, Hall of Languages, Syracuse University

Archbold died of complications from appendicitis in Tarrytown, New York on December 6, 1916. He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

• In 1914, the "John Dustin Archbold College of Liberal Arts" at Syracuse University was renamed in his honor. The entrance to the university's Hall of Languages remains inscribed with this name.
• The John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital, now the Archbold Medical Center, in Thomasville, Georgia, was established in 1925, through a donation by his son, John Foster Archbold.
• His grandson, John Dana Archbold, was a member of the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University from 1976 to 1993.
• The John Dana Archbold Theatre at Syracuse Stage (Central New York's only professional theater) is named after his grandson.