Our History

Established in 1875 by Senator Lewis Emery, Jr., Minard Run Oil Company is currently owned, operated, and managed by Emery’s fourth and fifth generation descendants.

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.

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)