Indiana's First Oil Refinery (OG-03)
Natural gas and oil discoveries in Ohio in 1884-85 and in Indiana in 1886 and 1889 began the development and exploitation of the great Trenton Gas and Oil Field of northwestern Ohio and east-central Indiana. Standard Oil Co., already a power in the industry, organized the Buckeye Pipeline Co. of Ohio in 1886. Buckeye built gathering lines and tank farms for storing most of the areas crude oil. In 1886-87 it built the first midwestern refinery at t Lima and an 8-inch pipeline to ship fuel oil to Chicago. In 1889-90, Standard built a refinery at Whiting, Indiana. This area later became a major refining center in the United States.

Our Hoosier State Beneath Us: Oil and Gas