Article

Jacob Lewis Englehart

Published Online May 28, 2008

Last Edited December 14, 2013

Jacob Lewis Englehart, industrialist (b at Cleveland, Ohio 2 Nov 1847; d at Toronto 6 Apr 1921). In 1869, at age 19, he established Englehart and Co, one of the most successful producers in the Petrolia, Ont, fields, where the world's first commercial oil production had begun in 1857.

Jacob Lewis Englehart

Jacob Lewis Englehart, industrialist (b at Cleveland, Ohio 2 Nov 1847; d at Toronto 6 Apr 1921). In 1869, at age 19, he established Englehart and Co, one of the most successful producers in the Petrolia, Ont, fields, where the world's first commercial oil production had begun in 1857. Englehart started by acquiring the remains of a refinery, used to distill kerosene from crude oil, which had been destroyed by fire. He was one of 16 operators at Petrolia who merged their interests in 1880 to form IMPERIAL OIL, which in turn was soon exporting kerosene around the world. Englehart was a major shareholder and VP of Imperial. Unable to raise capital for expansion elsewhere, Imperial in 1898 turned to John Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co, which purchased controlling interest. In 1905 Englehart was appointed chairman of the board of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (ONTARIO NORTHLAND), which he administered with outstanding success for 15 years.