Burning of the Standard Oil Co's tanks, Bayonne, N.J. /

Starting in the 1630's, Dutch New Amsterdam settlers tried to set their new home base across the Hudson river. Despite conflict with the native Indian Lenapes tribe, in 1660, a new town known as Bergen was settled atop the Palisade Hill . Soon, farms, religious congregations, and the self-governed communities spread throughout the region. The quiet and rural nature of Bergen survived the American Revolution, but, in 1804, a group of New Yorker investors purchased land along the waterfront for a new development which they called the Town of Jersey. Robert Fulton, an entrepreneur, soon built a dry dock and in 1812 began to run his steamboats and ferries to and from Manhattan to Newark and Philadelphia, sealing area's future as a major transportation hub, connecting the mainland United States with New York and Long Island. Access to the Pennsylvania's coal mines attracted industry which, in turn, required population growth. In the 1880's, Irish and German immigrants, fleeing their homelands, gave the area another boost. It was a melting pot of nationalities and ethnic tensions battlefield. Expansion of the railroads along the waterfront, growing industrialization and a steady supply of workers continued through the Civil War. The area boomed with rail terminals, barges, lighters, and ferries which crossed the river and New York Bay, carrying coal, food, manufactured goods and passengers throughout the Greater New York area. American Can, Emerson Radio, Lorillard tobaccos, Colgate soaps, and toothpaste, Dixon Ticonderoga pencils - are just a few brand names tat were born here. In the years following World War II, the cities declined, following the collapse of the independent railroad lines and death of the factories. In 1980s the now empty west bank of the Hudson, once crowded with railroad yards, became the place of numerous developments, bringing new residents, new stores and restaurants, and new jobs. Liberty State Park, opened for the Bicentennial in 1976, acquired the abandoned terminal and plant of the Jersey Central and gave the area breathtaking views, ferries to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and the new Liberty Science Center.

In 1862, John D. Rockefeller, a resident of Cleveland Ohio, joined with two partners to establish an oil-refining company. The men purchased oil wells in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and constructed a well near Cleveland. In 1865, Rockefeller bought out one of the partners' interest in the company, creating Rockefeller & Andrews Oil Company. In this year alone, the business earned approximately 200,000 dollars. While Rockefeller reaped extensive wealth in 1865, the oil industry was just beginning to grow. Most people only used oil for lighting. The market was limited. Prices fluctuated dramatically, as oil production waxed and waned during this period. To try and stabilize oil prices Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews, his partner, approached O.H. Payne, owner of the largest oil refinery in Cleveland. They proposed that the three men unite their companies together. By having a single oil company operating in northeastern Ohio, this company could hopefully fix prices and avoid the tremendous swings as production sometimes increased or dwindled. The company organizers convinced numerous other Cleveland firms to join with them. In other cases, they bought out the companies or drove them out of business by selling their oil for a much cheaper price than their competitors could. In 1870, Rockefeller united these companies together as the Standard Oil Company.