Question: Who built the first oil refinery in Texas and founded the predecessor to Texaco?
Answer: Joseph Stephen Cullinan. Born in Pennsylvania in 1860, he began working in the oilfields at the age of 14, joining Standard Oil in 1882. After oil was discovered in Corsicana in 1894, he left the company and formed the J. S. Cullinan Company (later the Magnolia Petroleum Company) in 1898, building a refinery near the oilfield in 1899. He moved his operations to the Beaumont area following the Spindletop discovery in 1901, establishing the Texas Company (later Texaco) in 1902. Cullinan would eventually establish ten companies involved in the exploration, production, refining, and marketing of Texas oil.
