Harry F. Sinclair
Encyclopedia
Harry Ford Sinclair was an American
oil
industrialist.
, now a suburb of the city of Wheeling
. Sinclair grew up in Independence, Kansas
. The son of a pharmacist
, after finishing high school, he entered the pharmacy department of the University of Kansas
, at Lawrence
. He was working as a pharmacist
in 1901 when the business failed. He then began selling lumber for derricks in the oil fields of southeastern Kansas. On the side, he started speculating in oil leases. The opportunity in the rapidly expanding oil
industry saw him become a lease broker and acquire an interest in the White Oil Company. In 1904, Sinclair married Elizabeth Farrell of Independence, Kansas. By the time he was thirty, he had become a millionaire.
On May 1, 1916, the highly successful Sinclair formed Sinclair Oil
from the assets of eleven small petroleum companies. In the same year, he bought the Cudahy Refining Company of Chicago, owner of several oil pipelines and refineries. By the end of the 1920s, Sinclair Oil refineries had a production capacity of 80,000 barrels a day and had built almost 900 miles (1,448.4 km) of oil pipelines. Operations were expanded in various areas including a 12000 acres (48.6 km²) coal mining
property. The company was ranked as the seventh largest oil company in the United States and the largest in the Midwest. Harry Sinclair's business acumen made him an important member of the local business community and he helped organize the State Bank of Commerce, which later was acquired by the First National Bank of Independence, of which Sinclair served on the board of directors.
. He was the principal owner of that league's Indianapolis franchise. Following the 1914 season, he purchased the remainder of the team and moved them to Newark, New Jersey
, where they became the Newark Pepper. After the season, the Federal League cut a deal with the other two baseball leagues. Sinclair reportedly made $2 million on his investment.
Sinclair invested a substantial amount of money in thoroughbred
race horses, acquiring the prestigious Rancocas Stable
in Jobstown
in southwest New Jersey
from the estate of Pierre Lorillard IV
. One of the most successful stables in the late 19th century, Sinclair again made it a major force in thoroughbred racing during the 1920s. Under trainer Sam Hildreth
, Sinclair's stable won the Kentucky Derby
and three Belmont Stakes
. Such was the fame of Rancocas Stable that the Pennsylvania Railroad
named baggage car
#5858 in its honor. Two of the stable's colts, Grey Lag
and Zev
, are in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
.
Albert B. Fall
had granted an oil lease to Sinclair Oil without competitive bidding. The oil field
lease was for government land in Wyoming
that had been created as an emergency reserve for the United States Navy
. What became known as the Teapot Dome scandal
, ultimately led to a United States Senate
establishing a Committee on Public Lands and Surveys to conduct hearings into the circumstances surrounding the government oil lease. The result was a finding of fraud and corruption which led to a number of civil lawsuits and criminal charges against Harry Sinclair and others. In 1927 the United States Supreme Court declared the Sinclair oil lease had been corruptly obtained and ordered it canceled.
Two weeks after Harry Sinclair's trial began in October 1927, it abruptly ended when the judge declared a mistrial following evidence presented by the government prosecutors showing that Sinclair had hired a detective agency to shadow each member of the jury
. Sinclair was charged with contempt of court, the case eventually winding up before the United States Supreme Court who, on June 3, 1929 http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=279&invol=749, upheld Sinclair's conviction. He was fined and sentenced to six months in prison
. The 1996 film Killer: A Journal of Murder
features a scene of Harry Sinclair in Leavenworth prison when Carl Panzram
is sent there.
In 1929, Secretary Albert B. Fall was found guilty of bribery, fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison - making him the first Presidential cabinet member to go to prison for his actions in office.
-style château
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/UES/UES062.htm on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 79th Street in New York City
. His reputation destroyed, in 1930 Sinclair sold the property. Located in the same area as several major museum
s, it was eventually acquired by the Ukrainian Institute of America and is now open to the public.
Harry Ford Sinclair retired as president of Sinclair Oil and Gas Company in January 1949.
He died a wealthy man in Pasadena, California
in 1956 and was interred in the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
industrialist.
Early life
Harry Sinclair was born in Benwood, West VirginiaBenwood, West Virginia
Benwood is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,585 at the 2000 census.Benwood was chartered in 1853 and incorporated in 1895...
, now a suburb of the city of Wheeling
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. Sinclair grew up in Independence, Kansas
Independence, Kansas
Independence is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,483.-Geography:...
. The son of a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
, after finishing high school, he entered the pharmacy department of the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
, at Lawrence
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
. He was working as a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
in 1901 when the business failed. He then began selling lumber for derricks in the oil fields of southeastern Kansas. On the side, he started speculating in oil leases. The opportunity in the rapidly expanding oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
industry saw him become a lease broker and acquire an interest in the White Oil Company. In 1904, Sinclair married Elizabeth Farrell of Independence, Kansas. By the time he was thirty, he had become a millionaire.
Oil business
In 1910, four Tulsa businessmen: Eugene Frank Blaise, Charles J. Wrightsman, William Connelly, and Harry F. Sinclair bought the failed Farmers National Bank in Tulsa. They created a new entity, Exchange National Bank, and named Sinclair as President. This bank, later renamed as the National Bank of Tulsa, was a forerunner of the present Bank of Oklahoma.On May 1, 1916, the highly successful Sinclair formed Sinclair Oil
Sinclair Oil
Sinclair Oil Corporation is an American petroleum corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916 as the Sinclair Oil & Refining Corporation by combining the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corporation, Sinclair Oil reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976...
from the assets of eleven small petroleum companies. In the same year, he bought the Cudahy Refining Company of Chicago, owner of several oil pipelines and refineries. By the end of the 1920s, Sinclair Oil refineries had a production capacity of 80,000 barrels a day and had built almost 900 miles (1,448.4 km) of oil pipelines. Operations were expanded in various areas including a 12000 acres (48.6 km²) coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
property. The company was ranked as the seventh largest oil company in the United States and the largest in the Midwest. Harry Sinclair's business acumen made him an important member of the local business community and he helped organize the State Bank of Commerce, which later was acquired by the First National Bank of Independence, of which Sinclair served on the board of directors.
Organized sports
Sinclair was one of the main financers of baseball's Federal LeagueFederal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
. He was the principal owner of that league's Indianapolis franchise. Following the 1914 season, he purchased the remainder of the team and moved them to Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, where they became the Newark Pepper. After the season, the Federal League cut a deal with the other two baseball leagues. Sinclair reportedly made $2 million on his investment.
Sinclair invested a substantial amount of money in thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
race horses, acquiring the prestigious Rancocas Stable
Rancocas Stable
Rancocas Farm was an American thoroughbred horse racing stud farm and racing stable located on Monmouth Road in Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, Jobstown, New Jersey....
in Jobstown
Jobstown, New Jersey
Jobstown is an unincorporated area within Springfield Township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 08041....
in southwest New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
from the estate of Pierre Lorillard IV
Pierre Lorillard IV
Pierre Lorillard IV was an American tobacco manufacturer and thoroughbred race horse owner.-Biography:...
. One of the most successful stables in the late 19th century, Sinclair again made it a major force in thoroughbred racing during the 1920s. Under trainer Sam Hildreth
Sam Hildreth
Samuel Clay Hildreth was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame trainer and owner.Born in Independence, Missouri, Sam Hildreth began his training career in 1887, competing at racetracks in the Midwestern United States with such horses as the good racemare Hurley Burley, the dam of...
, Sinclair's stable won the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
and three Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
. Such was the fame of Rancocas Stable that the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
named baggage car
Baggage car
A baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
#5858 in its honor. Two of the stable's colts, Grey Lag
Grey Lag
Grey Lag was a thoroughbred race horse born in Kentucky and bred by John E. Madden. At his Hamburg Place near Lexington, Kentucky, Maddon had a good stallion called Star Shoot which he bred to all his mares. Out of a failed racemare called Miss Minnie who had produced no previous winners, he got...
and Zev
Zev (horse)
Zev was an American thoroughbred horse racing champion.-Background:A brown colt, Zev was sired by The Finn out of the mare Miss Kearney . Bred by the famous horseman John E. Madden, Zev was owned by the Rancocas Stable of Harry F...
, are in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
.
Scandal
Harry Sinclair's high-profile image as a reputable American business leader and sportsman came under question in April 1922 when the Wall Street Journal reported that United States Secretary of the InteriorUnited States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Albert B. Fall
Albert B. Fall
Albert Bacon Fall was a United States Senator from New Mexico and the Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding, infamous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal.-Early life and family:...
had granted an oil lease to Sinclair Oil without competitive bidding. The oil field
Oil field
An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...
lease was for government land in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
that had been created as an emergency reserve for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. What became known as the Teapot Dome scandal
Teapot Dome scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States in 1922–23, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome and two other locations to private oil companies at low...
, ultimately led to a United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
establishing a Committee on Public Lands and Surveys to conduct hearings into the circumstances surrounding the government oil lease. The result was a finding of fraud and corruption which led to a number of civil lawsuits and criminal charges against Harry Sinclair and others. In 1927 the United States Supreme Court declared the Sinclair oil lease had been corruptly obtained and ordered it canceled.
Two weeks after Harry Sinclair's trial began in October 1927, it abruptly ended when the judge declared a mistrial following evidence presented by the government prosecutors showing that Sinclair had hired a detective agency to shadow each member of the jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
. Sinclair was charged with contempt of court, the case eventually winding up before the United States Supreme Court who, on June 3, 1929 http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=279&invol=749, upheld Sinclair's conviction. He was fined and sentenced to six months in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. The 1996 film Killer: A Journal of Murder
Killer: A Journal of Murder
Killer: A Journal Of Murder is a 1996 American film. It is based on the life of serial killer Carl Panzram, and uses passages of his biography.-Plot outline:...
features a scene of Harry Sinclair in Leavenworth prison when Carl Panzram
Carl Panzram
Carl Panzram was an American serial killer, arsonist and burglar. He is known for his confession to prison guard and only friend, Henry Lesser. In graphic detail, Panzram confessed to 22 murders, and to having sodomized over 1,000 males...
is sent there.
In 1929, Secretary Albert B. Fall was found guilty of bribery, fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison - making him the first Presidential cabinet member to go to prison for his actions in office.
Later life
After serving his short prison term, Sinclair returned to his successful business. He had owned a luxurious French RenaissanceFrench Renaissance
French Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
-style château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/UES/UES062.htm on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 79th Street in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His reputation destroyed, in 1930 Sinclair sold the property. Located in the same area as several major museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s, it was eventually acquired by the Ukrainian Institute of America and is now open to the public.
Harry Ford Sinclair retired as president of Sinclair Oil and Gas Company in January 1949.
He died a wealthy man in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
in 1956 and was interred in the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
The Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, located at 4201 Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, California...
.
External links
- http://www.kshs.org/portraits/sinclair_harry.htm