Magnolia Oil Refinery
Corsicana is recognized as the birthplace of the Texas oil industry which led to the formation of several prominent oil businesses. The first commercial oil refinery in Texas was built in Corsicana in 1898. Mayor James E. Whiteselle invited Joseph S. Cullinan, a talented manager with standard oil in Pennsylvania, to visit Corsicana and offer advice. In 1897, Cullinan came to Corsicana and quickly transferred his efforts. With a group of investors from back east, Cullinan formed the J.S. Cullinan Company, predecessor to the Magnolia Petroleum Company (Mobil Oil), to build the refinery. By December, the installation was complete with four stills, each twelve feet in diameter and thirty feet long, arranged in a row. Each firing still held 500 barrels of crude. The first batch of crude at the refinery was fired on Christmas Day in 1898 by W.C. Ralston. To market his product, Cullinan persuaded businesses across the region using coal to switch to fuel oil and provided a model for future oil endeavors.
In 1911, the J.S. Cullinan company merged with several newer companies to form the Magnolia Petroleum Company (Mobil Oil), the legendary Texas oil company symbolized by the flying red horse. The refinery ceased operations in 1941, but the tank farm and pipelines at the site continue in operation. Exxon Mobil, successor of Magnolia Petroleum and Mobil Oil, continues to maintain one of the four original brick-lined firing stills from the original refinery. Magnolia Petroleum and other founders of oil industry titans to come found their start in the Corsicana oil field and are remembered as forerunners in the industry.