History

Established in 1875 by Senator Lewis Emery Jr., Minard Run Oil Company is currently owned, operated and managed by the four great-grandchildren of Senator Emery and one great-great-grandson: D. Kennedy Fesenmyer, Natalie Emery, Elaine F. Northrup, Frederick W. Fesenmyer and Frederick W. Fesenmyer III.

In addition to founder Lewis Emery's impressive credentials which included serving as a Pennsylvania State Senator from 1892-1900, he is also fondly recognized by the local population as the maverick oilman who out-smarted John D. Rockefeller. During the era when Rockefeller controlled the railroads that transported oil, Rockefeller used his power to pressure other oil producers. Emery developed a method of transporting oil his way, by establishing the United States Pipeline Company, which extended from Bradford, Pennsylvania to New Jersey.

By the time of Emery's death in 1924, in addition to Minard Run Oil Company, he had founded Emery Hardware Company, Emery Manufacturing, the Emery Refinery, the Quintuple Oil Company, the Bradford Gas Company, and the American Alkali and Acid Company. The Emery Refinery once occupied approximately six and one-half (6-1/2) acres of the present site of the American Refining Group, and at its peak, refined 50,000 barrels of oil per month.

A more recent milestone in Minard Run Oil Company's long history occurred in 1962, when a gas well was drilled to a depth of 11,862 feet; the deepest well at the time, in the entire Appalachian area.

Minard Run Oil Company is the oldest family owned and operated independent oil producer having drilled and produced oil and gas wells in three centuries (1875-present).