Talk:Paul G. Blazer

Double referencing
I've moved following links from the main space article, as these links are hardly relevant for the content. Few are unreliable sources and few seemed promotional.

http://www.ashland.com/about/history-heritage http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/lehman/company.html?company=ashland_oil_refining_company http://www.lipsitzponterio.com/JobSites/City/Buffalo/AshlandOil/HistoryofAshlandInc http://www.virginia.edu/igpr/APAG/apagoilhistory.html Bob Gray: http://www.mississippirivermuseum.com/features_halloffame_detail.cfm?memberID=83 http://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/08/obituaries/j-h-marshall-90-an-oil-executive.html http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00006879/00001/1j NPN (National Pettoleum News) 1964 "Hall of Fame Newsletter" http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/docs/historical/frbclev/Annual_Report_1944.pdf page 4 http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/docs/historical/frbclev/Annual_Financial_Statement_1948.pdf page 4 http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/docs/historical/frbclev/Annual_Financial_Statement_1949.pdf http://www.uky.edu/SullivanAward/past_recipients_1940-1959.htm http://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/28-1-9_Filsonians_.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestonsburg,_Kentucky_bus_disaster http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyjohnso/Bus.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Educational_Television Encyclopedia.com: Ashland Oil Inc. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2840800129.html National Achieves: http://research.archives.gov/description/7261744 http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=453937 http://www.mississippirivermuseum.com/features_halloffame_detail.cfm?memberID=93 http://towboatgallery.com/Paul_G_Blazer.php?pic=3&tnc=1&mnu=#MAINIMAGE http://www.placekeeper.com/Kentucky/Greenup_Locks_and_Dam-517167.html http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/Portals/70/docs/iwrreports/IWR004-002287-002364.pdf page 35 Roosevelt Military Academy http://warrencountynews.blogspot.com/2012/04/rough-rider-ghosts-in-aledo.html

Thanks  Occult Zone (Talk • Contributions • Log) 02:07, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Removed text
CC-BY-SA declaration; test in this section was remove from the article by me because it's off-topic for this article. I've left it here for the benefit of future editors.  Baffle☿gab  02:15, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Ashland Refining Company
In October 1923, J. Fred Miles of the Swiss Oil Company of Lexington, Kentucky. hired Paul G. Blazer to locate, purchase and be general manager of a refinery in eastern Kentucky. Keeping in mind the transportation advantages of access to the Ohio River, a refinery built in 1916 in northeastern Kentucky, where the Big Sandy River joins the Ohio River was selected. With funds supplied by Swiss Oil, Blazer arranged to buy, at a price of $212,500, the little 1,000 barrel per day refinery of Great Eastern Refining Company which had been owned by coal operators out of Huntington, West Virginia. The venture of these coal people into oil refining had proved unprofitable and they were glad to sell their refinery, including a small towboat and oil barge.

On February 2, 1924, Blazer and three Swiss Oil executives incorporated Ashland Refining Company, with a paid in capital of $250,000. They took over the operations of the Catlettsburg Refinery which had twenty-five employees who were working seven days per week and twelve hours per day. Blazer moved from Lexington to Ashland. The only member of the Swiss Oil organization to come to Ashland with Blazer was Ashland Refining Company's first treasurer, William Waples.

Refinery operations were successful from the very first month. Wages were increased and the hours of work were reduced. After making repairs and purchasing some new equipment, the refinery soon had output of 500,000 barrels a year and sales of $1,300,000. Within a few years, Ashland Refining Company, the small subsidiary of Swiss Oil formed solely to facilitate the purchase of some eastern Kentucky oil producing properties, began showing larger earnings than the parent company.

Ashland Refining Co. grew rapidly through both internal expansion and acquisitions including Union Gas and Oil Company (1925), Tri-State Refining Company (1930), and Cumberland Pipeline Company (1931).

By 1933, Ashland Refining Company owned more than 1,000 wells, 800 miles of pipelines, bulk distribution plants in twelve cities, service stations, river transportation terminals and river equipment. In 1936, under Blazer's leadership the Company ownership changed from Swiss Oil to the Ashland Oil and Refining Company shareholder group in Ashland, Kentucky. Blazer was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Blazer's success as manager was recognized by major stock holders. They gave him the power to run Ashland as his own operation, though at no point during his tenure as Chief Executive Officer (1936–1957) did he own a controlling interest in the company.

Two of his early changes were offering employees sick leave with full pay and in 1947 the introduction of an employee profit-sharing plan, which made Ashland Oil and Refining Company one of the first companies in the region to offer such benefits. Blazer also started the well known tradition of having local Greenup County educator and internationally acclaimed author Jesse Stuart open each annual meeting with a story, a poem, or a bit of humor.

After World War II, Ashland teamed with Sperry Corporation to develop the introduction of radar on commercial river vessels and teamed with various shipyards to develop the integrated tow. The "jumbo" tank barge of 195 ft. by 35 ft. became the industry standard. Ashland was growing from a small Eastern Kentucky refinery into a Forbes 500 company by relying on barges to bring in crude oil and deliver refined products to independent marketers. In the process, Ashland soon operated the nation's largest inland towing fleet and in 1953 the Port of Huntington-Tristate exceeded Pittsburgh as the busiest port on the Ohio River.

Following World War II, Ashland Oil & Refining Company acquired Allied Oil Company (1948), Cleveland and Lakeland Tankers (1948), Aetna Oil Company (1949), Freedom-Valvoline Company (1950), Frontier Oil of Buffalo (1950) and National Refining Company (1950).

By 1953, Ashland Oil and Refining Company had 3,518 miles of crude oil pipelines, 252 miles of product lines, six refineries processing an average of 124,000 barrels a day, operated nine tow boats on the inland waterways, and owned over 100 barges.

Although still involved as Chairman of Ashland's Finance Committee and Executive Committee, Blazer stepped down as Chief Executive Officer in 1957.

Louisville Refining Company was purchased in 1959. United Carbon was purchased in 1963.

At the time of Blazer's passing in 1966, Ashland Oil and Refinery Company Inc.'s sales had grown to $699,000,000.  Baffle☿gab  02:15, 2 July 2020 (UTC)