The Tidewater Building

My mandate in Newtown Creek Alliance is to act as historian, as well as a photographer, and the building pictured above is known to modernity as the “Lukoil Getty Terminal.” Its waterfront is categorized by Dock Code 616, with a 300 foot frontage on Newtown Creek, and it sits in plain view of the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge on the north side of the waterway, in Queens.

To me, it’ll always just be the Tidewater building.

From Wikipedia:

Tidewater Oil Company (also rendered as Tide Water Oil Company) was a major petroleum refining and marketing concern in the United States for more than 80 years. Tidewater was best known for its Flying A–branded products and gas stations, and for Veedol motor oil, which was known throughout the world.

Tidewater was founded in New York City in 1887. The company entered the gasoline market just before World War I, and by 1920 was selling gasoline, oil and other products on the East Coast under its Tydol brand. In 1931, Tidewater expanded its reach into the midwestern U.S. by purchasing Northwestern Oil Company of Superior, Wisconsin.

Soon thereafter, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil) gained control of Tidewater, and set up the subsidiary Mission Corporation to operate it. J. Paul Getty’s purchase of Mission in 1937 set the stage for the birth of Tidewater as a major national player in the oil industry.

In the early years of the American oil industry, it seems, there were literally hundreds of small players who drilled or refined petroleum.

A behemoth which emerged from the crowded field, one that would dominate the sector in one way or another to this very day, was John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Standard controlled the means of delivery, whether it be defacto control of the rail lines leading from oil rich regions (which were in Pennsylvania, back then), to monopolizing petroleum refining, or through ownership of any vector which supplied their refined product to end user customers. This allowed Standard to fix prices at a certain level, manipulate supply and demand in its own favor, or to keep competitors from getting their goods to market.

None of this is controversial, incidentally, it’s history. I mention this, because folks get all nervous and uppity whenever I include “oil companies” and “the Rockefellers” in the same sentence with “Newtown Creek.” Same thing with Charles Pratt, VP of Standard. Go figure.

From 1919′s “Platts power, Volume 50“. courtesy Google Books:

N.Y., Long Island City – The Tidewater Oil Co., 11 Broadway New York City, awarded the contract for the construction of a 2 story 30 x 140 ft warehouse on Greenpoint Ave and Newtown Creek, to H.D. Best, 949 Broadway, New York City. A steam heating system will be installed in same.

Unfair and underhanded, the Standard Oil Trust went out of its way to destroy or stifle its competition and before long it controlled 90-95% of the oil business in the United States. Competitors came along as the years passed, most of which fell before the attentions of the Rockefellers. Some, like Charles Pratt, sold a majority stake in their operations to Standard and joined the winning team. Alternatively, those who opposed Standard would be driven into bankruptcy and destroyed by the monopoly. Technological advances and invention offered an opportunity to bypass a rail system dominated by the Standard trust which stood between well and refinery. The answer was a pipeline, which could feed oil to the independent refineries on the Atlantic coast of the United States and break Standard’s strangle hold on production, delivery, and refining – something that became mechanically feasible in the late 19th century.

The company that crystallized this challenge to Standard was the Tidewater Oil Company.

From 1889′s “Stoddart’s Encyclopaedia Americana: a dictionary of arts, sciences, and general literature“, courtesy Google Books:

For many years, Rockefeller and his Standard men (with armies of bought and paid for politicians, and local officials) ridiculed and fought against any discussion of moving oil through pipelines, but when his independent competitors banded together under the Tidewater brand in the 1870′s – he knew that Standard must innovate. In one of the first business moves of its kind, Standard began purchasing common stock in Tidewater, and by 1883 controlled a majority share in it.

Rather than using the well honed “breaking” techniques of industrial monopoly on the rival company, Rockefeller simply purchased his competition. Not needing the railroads anymore, he set about destroying them, but that’s another story.

From Harper’s Magazine, Volume 72, courtesy Google Books:

A recommended primer for anyone interested in the story of the early American oil industry is “The History of the Standard Oil Company, By Ida Minerva Tarbell,” an admittedly biased and muckraking account told by the daughter of an oil pioneer whose business was wiped out by the Standard Trust. Tarbell disliked the term muckraker, and considering that she was a pioneering female journalist and investigative reporter in an age not exactly known for either — let’s just respect her wishes.

Note: just a few weeks ago, the Standard Heating Oil logo in the image above appeared on the building.

From “The History of the Standard Oil Company, Volume 2 By Ida Minerva Tarbell” courtesy Google Books:

Standard was broken up by the actions of the Federal government in the early 20th century, shattered into several smaller corporations. Standard Oil Company of NY (SOCONY) was one of these, and it would become Mobil. Standard Oil Company of NJ (SOCONJ) would become Exxon. Mobil operated out of an enormous refinery location, across the bridge in Greenpoint, until the middle 1960s. The Tidewater building ended up in the hands of first Getty and then Lukoil.

The current occupation of the site has been as a distribution point for heating and gas supplies, but realtor banners that say “available” have recently appeared. Wonder if there will be an open house?

From Wikipedia:

In 1904, Standard controlled 91% of production and 85% of final sales. Most of its output was kerosene, of which 55% was exported around the world. After 1900 it did not try to force competitors out of business by underpricing them. The federal Commissioner of Corporations studied Standard’s operations from the period of 1904 to 1906 and concluded that “beyond question… the dominant position of the Standard Oil Company in the refining industry was due to unfair practices—to abuse of the control of pipe-lines, to railroad discriminations, and to unfair methods of competition in the sale of the refined petroleum products.”

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.