The Oil Business Beckons

            At that time Eastern Kentucky was being considered as a possible alternative to successful oil fields in Pennsylvania and the West by investors who recognized growing world-wide energy demands created by a major world war and the rapid growth of automobiles and highways.  It did not escape Combs eye that successful Lexington businessmen like Lexington Herald owner Desha Breckinridge, Leonard Cox, George Graves and Charles Manning were taking advantage of the interest of Chicago and New York investment houses in exploration enterprises based out of Lexington.  His own interest and investment on one venture, Swiss Oil Company, grew gradually until in 1922 the death of the company president and a downturn in prices forced him into an active role as the firm’s new president. 

A number of books, including The Exception, provide an intriguing look at how in 1924 the Swiss Oil directors were facing bankruptcy and countered the usual move of cutting back by instead committing five million dollars they didn’t have and creating a refining operation near Catlettsburg.  To lead this risky step they hired a young man who had been in Lexington for half dozen years in similarly struggling refinery operations – Combs and his colleagues had created the Ashland Refining division and named Paul Blazer as its head.

In an eight-year battle against daunting conditions heightened by the Depression, an amazing story unfolded.  While the investors in Lexington managed to find creative ways to avoid the bankruptcy threatened by dubious investors, Blazer’s eastern Kentucky operations gradually turned a profit and then grew to the point that in 1936 the Ashland division merged with the parent company and became Ashland Oil & Refining Company.  Writing to Combs in a personal letter in 1934, Blazer praised the Senator for his crucial role when the company was near default “except that you pledged your personal credit and that of the Combs Lumber Company to raise $100,000” and that show of faith, Blazer stressed led to other financing “enabling the company to weather the storm.”

Although Ashland Inc. had a limited presence in Central Kentucky from 1936 until it moved its world Valvoline headquarters and several key divisions to Lexington in 1979, through the years many Lexingtonians have served as key roles including five members of Ashland’s board of directors who were also chairmen of the chamber of commerce – Combs, E. L. McDonald, Edward S. Dabney, Walter W. Hillenmeyer and W. L. Rouse.  In recent years many Ashland Inc. leaders, including former Chairman of the Board John R. Hall and current Chairman James J. O’Brien, made their home in Lexington and continued the Ashland tradition of contributions to the community especially in promoting education.