Founding and early years Ashland was founded in 1924 as the
Ashland Refining Company in
Catlettsburg, Kentucky, by
Paul G. Blazer. In October 1923, J. Fred Miles of the Swiss Oil Company of
Lexington, Kentucky, employed Paul G. Blazer and assigned him the task of locating, purchasing and operating an
oil refinery in northeastern Kentucky. Blazer selected a location on the banks of the
Big Sandy River approximately two miles south of the
Ohio River near the community of Leach Railroad Station, Kentucky. One mile south of the city of Catlettsburg, the site contained an existing refinery which was purchased by Blazer which had been in operation since 1916. The Catlettsburg site was advantageous due to its location near the Ohio River and offered an efficient means of transportation for the fledgling company. With funds supplied by Swiss Oil, Blazer arranged to buy, at a price of $212,500, the small unprofitable 1,000 barrel per day refinery of Great Eastern Refining Company which had been owned by coal operators in
Huntington, West Virginia. With the purchase of the refinery came a small towboat and oil barge. On February 2, 1924, Blazer and three Swiss Oil executives incorporated Ashland Refining Company, with a capital of $250,000. They took over the operations of the
Catlettsburg Refinery which had twenty-five employees who were working seven days per week and twelve hours per day. Blazer moved from Lexington to Ashland. The only member of the Swiss Oil organization to come to Ashland with Blazer was Ashland Refining Company's first treasurer, William Waples. By 1933, Ashland Refining Company owned more than 1,000 wells, 800 miles of pipelines, bulk distribution plants in twelve cities, service stations, river transportation terminals and river equipment. In 1936, under Blazer's leadership, the company's ownership changed from Swiss Oil to the Ashland Oil and Refining Company shareholder group and was headquartered in Ashland, Kentucky. Blazer was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the company. Blazer's success as manager was recognized by major stockholders. They gave him the power to run Ashland as his own operation, though at no point during his tenure as Chief Executive Officer (1936–1957) did he own a controlling interest in the company. Blazer's philosophy of supporting the well-being of company employees was evident early on. Two of his early changes were offering employees' sick leave with full pay, and in 1947 the introduction of an employee profit-sharing plan. This move made the company one of the first in the region to offer such benefits. Blazer supported creative arts and invited nearby Greenup County educator and internationally acclaimed author
Jesse Stuart to open each annual meeting with a story, a poem, or a bit of humor. He also was a pastor at his local church.
Post-World War II After the end of
World War II, Ashland teamed with
Sperry Corporation to develop the introduction of radar on commercial river vessels and teamed with various shipyards to develop the integrated tow. The "jumbo" tank barge of 195 ft. by 35 ft. became the industry standard and was used by Ashland. Under Blazer's control, the company grew to become a
Forbes 500 company by relying on barges to bring in
crude oil and deliver refined products to independent marketers. Ashland soon operated the nation's largest inland towing fleet and in 1953 the
Port of Huntington-Tristate exceeded Pittsburgh as the busiest port on the Ohio River and the busiest inland port in the United States, a title it retains to date. Ashland Oil & Refining Company also grew through many acquisitions such as the Allied Oil Company (1948), Cleveland and Lakeland Tankers (1948), Aetna Oil Company (1949), Freedom-Valvoline Company (1950), Frontier Oil of Buffalo (1950) and National Refining Company (1950). as well as entering into a joint venture in
Coal mining under the name
Arch Mineral.
1980s-1990s In the 1980s and early 1990s, Ashland continued to expand, buying The Permian Corporation which it merged with
Scurlock Oil Company in 1991 to form a subsidiary known as Scurlock Permian Corporation. In 1992, most of
Unocal's chemical distribution business was acquired, making Ashland the top chemical distributor in North America. At this time, the Industrial Chemicals & Solvents (IC&S) division was established. The company's name was changed from "Ashland Oil, Incorporated" to the present "Ashland, Inc." in 1995, which noted the reduced importance of oil in the overall business. In 1998, the petroleum division merged with
Marathon Oil to form
Marathon Ashland Petroleum, LLC (MAP). Following that in 1999, Ashland was #102 on the
Fortune 200 list of companies when it agreed to sell its Scurlock Permian subsidiary to
Plains All American Pipeline and the headquarters were moved from Ashland to
Covington, Kentucky, although the company maintained an office building in Russell, adjacent to Ashland.
21st century A monumental change came in 2005, when Ashland sold its shares of the petroleum joint venture to Marathon Oil, effectively dissolving the remnants of their petroleum division. After the sale, the company was no longer involved in the refining or marketing of fuels. The
original oil refinery in
Catlettsburg, Kentucky, is still in operation to date, owned and operated by Marathon. In 2006, Ashland sold APAC (the paving and construction division) to the Oldcastle Materials subsidiary of Oldcastle, Inc. of
Dublin, Ireland. Ashland purchased the adhesive and emulsions divisions of
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in 2008. and announced plans to acquire
Hercules, Inc. in July 2008, for $3.3 billion. On November 13, 2008, the transaction was completed. In July 2010 Ashland merged its foundry chemicals activity with Süd-Chemie of
Munich, Germany, to form ASK Chemicals L.P. with headquarters in
Dublin, Ohio. In November 2010 Ashland announced plans to sell its distribution business known as Ashland Distribution to TPG Capital for $930 million. The Ashland Distribution business had been a part of Ashland since 1969 when it was known as Ashland Chemical. With revenues of $3.4 billion, the Ashland Distribution business had approximately 2,000 employees across North America and Europe, and entered the China plastics market in 2009. In May 2011 Ashland announced that it had bought the privately owned company International Specialty Products, Inc. (ISP) for $3.2 billion. ISP is a supplier of specialty chemicals and performance-enhancing products for consumer and industrial markets. In 2014, Ashland Water Technologies was sold to a private equity fund managed by
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. In May 2017, Ashland spun off its Valvoline business as
Valvoline, Inc. (NYSE:VVV), the final step of reorganizing itself as a global specialty chemicals company. In January 2019, Ashland struck a deal with activist investor Cruiser Capital Advisors, which had planned to mount a proxy fight to replace four board directors. Instead, the two parties reached an agreement involving a consulting role for one of Cruiser's director nominees and more input regarding future board appointees. In October 2019, Ashland announced Guillermo Novo would succeed William A. Wulfsohn as chairman and chief executive officer. == Company histories ==