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. Between 1911 and 1916, Archbold was president of the
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. Archbold once made a $250,000 donation to the
National Kindergarten Association, to whose board of directors his wife was elected in 1911.
The Hepburn Committee A. Barton Hepburn was directed by the
New York State Legislature in 1879 to
investigate the railroads' practice of giving rebates within the state. Merchants without ties to the oil industry had pressed for the hearings. Prior to the committee's investigation, few knew of the size of
Standard Oil's control and influence on seemingly unaffiliated oil refineries and pipelines – Hawke (1980) cites that only a dozen or so within Standard Oil knew the extent of company operations. The committee counsel,
Simon Sterne, questioned representatives from the
Erie Railroad and the
New York Central Railroad and discovered that at least half of their long-haul traffic granted rebates, and that much of this traffic came from Standard Oil. The committee then shifted focus to Standard Oil's operations. John Dustin Archbold, as president of Acme Oil Company, denied that Acme was associated with Standard Oil. He then admitted to being a director of Standard Oil. The committee's final report scolded the railroads for their rebate policies and cited Standard Oil as an example. This scolding was largely moot to Standard Oil's interests since long-distance oil pipelines were now their preferred method of transportation.
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.
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 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. Hill was an IWW member, songwriter and labor organizer who had been convicted of murder. == Death ==