Portal:Houston/Selected biography/December 2006

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Joseph S. Cullinan (December 31, 1860 - March 11, 1937) was a U.S. oil industrialist. Although he was a native of Pennsylvania, his lifetime business endeavors would help shape the early oil industry of Texas. He founded The Texas Company. In 1905, he began to move the headquarters of the company from Beaumont to Houston and completing this move by 1908. This relocation established Houston as the center of the oil operations of the Southwest as other oil companies later followed this precedent. Many years later, The Texas Company changed its corporate name to Texaco Incorporated in 1959. After leaving his position of president of the company, Cullinan continued to serve in the oil industry. He established other exploration companies and refineries, with most of the activity in the East Texas region along the Gulf Coast.