By the age of 20, Rockefeller, who'd thrived at his job, ventured out his own with another business partner, working as commission merchants in hay, meats, grain and other goods. At the close of the company's first year in business, it had grossed $450,000. A careful and studious businessman who refrained from taking unnecessary risks, Rockefeller sensed an opportunity in the oil business by the early 1860s, and in 1863 he opened his first refinery, just outside Cleveland. Less than a decade later, Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company, had near-total control of the region's refineries.y

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