John Dustin Archbold was born on July 26, 1848 in Leesburg, Ohio, United States. His father, Israel Archbold, was a Methodist preacher of Irish descent; his mother, Frances (Dana) Archbold, was a daughter of the Massachusetts Dana family who migrated to Marietta, Ohio, in the early days of that settlement.
Archbold received only a few years of schooling.
As an eleven-year-old boy he had known something of the excitement that followed the discovery of petroleum near Titusville in 1859. By the time he had reached his eighteenth year he was ready to cast in his lot with the nondescript horde of fortune-hunters in the oil fields, where a new frenzy of speculation followed the close of the Civil War. Young Archbold quickly proved himself able to hold his own with experienced men in the rough give-and-take of trade under conditions not unlike those of the California gold rush in 1849. He was soon to come off winner in a hotly contested race with a group of master minds in the new industry.
The South Improvement Company, in which John D. Rockefeller and other Standard Oil men were members, blocked the advance of the Pennsylvania producers and refiners, including Archbold, by obtaining from the railroads freight rebates which put the Pennsylvanians out of the running as competitors.
Even in those cut-throat days, Archbold was able to unite the leading oil men of the Titusville region against an outside foe that threatened the business life of the community. He was successful; the Cleveland combination was thwarted in its plans; it acknowledged defeat--for the moment--and took the victorious young leader into its own camp, where his brains and talents were needed in working out a national organization to control the oil industry.
The launching of Archbold's Acme Oil Company was followed by the expansion of the Standard Oil Company, with Archbold on its directorate. From 1882 to the day of his death there was no question of the dominance of Archbold in Standard Oil policy and counsels. In the various investigations made from time to time by Congress and the state governments, when facts were disclosed, Archbold usually acted as spokesman for the company. He often disarmed criticism by his frankness. Asked before the Industrial Commission of 1900 whether Standard Oil was enabled by its great power to secure prices somewhat above those that were competitive, he replied, "Well, I hope so. "
In the period of the Standard Oil Company's rapid growth and absorption of independent companies, Archbold as vice-president was one of its most aggressive officers. After 1896, when John D. Rockefeller, although still president, had comparatively little to do with the corporation's affairs, Archbold was the real genius of the organization. Stabilization, combined with steady improvement of product, was his goal. He bent his energies to the creation of an efficient system of distribution, including the control of pipe-lines and the location of refineries at points convenient to markets; to the perfection of plants, and to the economical utilization of by-products. Thus an organization was developed that was soon beyond the reach of effective competition.
In 1908 copies of letters addressed by Archbold to men in public life, notably Senators Quay and Penrose of Pennsylvania and Foraker of Ohio, were stolen from his office files and published. Although these letters did not point to actual corruption, they seemed to mark their writer as a corporation officer who had no hesitancy in calling upon men in the government service to do his bidding.
As a result of the United States Supreme Court decision of 1911, dissolving the Standard Oil Company, Archbold became president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and held that office at the time of his death.
Archbold rose rapidly at Standard Oil, handling many of the complex secret negotiations over the years. He effectively ran that company until his death. He also donated $4, 000, 000 to the Syracuse University over his lifetime. His donations financed the construction of the Archbold Stadium, Archbold Gymnasium, and the Sims Hall dormitory.
Though he was considered a controversial figure, he was admired for his generosity.
He was married in 1870 to Annie Mills of Titusville, Pennsylvania. They had four children.
