Editing Astral Oil Works (section)

===1850s-1860s: Background and formation===
Astral Oil Works was founded in the [[Greenpoint, Brooklyn|Greenpoint]] section of [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]], by [[Charles Pratt]]. Pratt was a pioneer of the [[petroleum industry]] who later formed [[Charles Pratt and Company]] with [[Henry H. Rogers]].<ref name=nyt-great/> As a young man, Pratt had joined a company in [[Boston, Massachusetts]] which specialized in paints and [[whale oil]] products. In 1850 or 1851 he moved to [[New York City]], where he worked for a similar company. Pratt realized that whale oil could be replaced by petroleum ("natural oil") distillates to light lamps.  He became a [[History of the petroleum industry in the United States|pioneer of the petroleum industry]] as new wells were established in western Pennsylvania in the 1860s. He soon established his [[kerosene]] refinery, Astral Oil Works, in [[Brooklyn, New York]].<ref>[http://www.brooklyn.net/neighborhoods/greenpoint.html Brooklyn Pratt Works] 1939 WPA Guide to New York City</ref> In the mid-1860s, Pratt met two aspiring young men, Charles Ellis and [[Henry H. Rogers]] in western [[Pennsylvania]], and later purchased the entire future output of their small venture, [[Wamsutta Oil Refinery]] near [[Oil City, Pennsylvania|Oil City]], at a fixed price. Pratt had previously bought whale oil from Ellis in [[Fairhaven, Massachusetts]],{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} and had done business with Rogers in the Pennsylvania oil fields starting in 1861. After five years in the oil fields, in 1866 Pratt asked Rogers to come to the Brooklyn side of Pratt's business.<ref name=d-personality/>

In 1867, Pratt built “America’s first modern oil refinery (Astral Oil) on the banks of [[Newtown Creek]].” Over 50 other oil refineries were then founded along the East River from Williamsburg to Greenpoint, in the same area.<ref name=mj-spill>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=The Brooklyn Oil Spill: A Timeline |url=https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2007/09/brooklyn-oil-spill-timeline/ | work=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=September 14, 2007 |access-date=August 14, 2017}}</ref> While spending eight years in the Brooklyn refinery starting in 1866, Rogers, according to ''[[The New York Times]]'', “invented the machinery by which naphtha was first successfully separated from the crude oil. This invention not only made the way for all that has been done since [in 1909] in the use of naphtha and its kindred products, but it made the handling and use of the residual oil far safer than it had ever before, because the volatile constituent had been removed."<ref name=d-personality>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Dual Personality of Henry H. Rogers; A Man of Steel and a Fighter in Business; Gentle, Genial, and Lovable Away from It. Newsboy to Oil Magnate - His Vast Interests in Oil, Railroads, Coppers, and Gas, and His Many Battles in Finance. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/05/20/archives/dual-personality-of-henry-h-rogers-a-man-of-steel-and-a-fighter-in.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York, United States |date=May 20, 1909 |access-date=August 15, 2017}}</ref> Rogers moved steadily from foreman to manager, and then superintendent of Pratt's Astral Oil Refinery. Pratt finally gave Rogers an interest in the business. In 1867, with Henry Rogers as a partner, he established the firm of [[Charles Pratt and Company]].{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} In 1869, Pratt trademarked “Pratt’s Astral Oil.”<ref name=trademark/> On August 21, 1869, Charles Pratt wrote to the editor of ''The New York Times'' that in the Board of Health meeting that month, the company's astral oil came in for "an unintentional consure" after the name was confounded with other parties.<ref name=nyt-card>{{cite news |last=Pratt |first=Charles |date=August 21, 1869 |title=Astral Oil--Card from the Manufacturer. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1869/08/21/archives/astral-oilcard-from-the-manufacturer.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York |access-date=December 26, 2017}}</ref> The president of the Metropolitan Board of Health apologized for the error within several days, at a meeting on August 25, as it was DEVOE'S patent petroleum which had been deemed unsafe in an investigation, with "Astral" oil not analyzed by the board. The error resulted because the firm DEVOE & PRATT had been dissolved, with the different partners selling different patent oil canned in the same manner, and "sold in Fulton-street at neighboring stores.<ref name=nyt-error>{{cite news |date=August 26, 1869 |title=BOARD OF HEALTH.; The Mistake Concerning the "Astral" Oil --A Breeze About Private Sessions--Should the Public Know All that the board May Do?--Dismissal of the President's Son. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1869/08/26/archives/board-of-health-the-mistake-concerning-the-astral-oil-a-breeze.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York |access-date=December 26, 2017}}</ref>