John D. Rockefeller portrait photograph   Save
Albert D. Taylor Collection
Description: This black-and-white photograph is a portrait of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., from the original manuscript of "Forest Hill Park: A Report on the Proposed Landscape Development," 1938. This photograph, likely taken in the early 1930s, shows an older Rockefeller seated in a formal suit and tie. Forest Hill Park, designed by Cleveland landscape architect Albert Davis Taylor, was formerly the estate of industrialist J. D. Rockefeller. John Davison Rockefeller, born in Richford, New York, was an oil industry businessman who came to be known as one of the richest men in history, having owned, at one time, ninety percent of the United States oil refining industry. In his youth, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he became a bookkeeper at 16. In 1862 he went into business with entrepreneur Henry Flagler and Samuel Andrews, a firm which later changed its name to the Standard Oil Company. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. joined his father in 1897 but focused his efforts on philanthropy rather than the family business. He bought the land of Forest Hill from his father in 1923, selling and donating portions of the estate for various public uses. In 1938 he gave over 200 acres to East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, land which became the Forest Hill Park. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05087
Subjects: Rockefeller, John D. (John Davison), 1839-1937; Parks--Ohio--Cuyahoga County; Parks; Landscape architects; Environment
Places: Cleveland Heights (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)