Havemeyer, Henry Osborne

Havemeyer, Henry Osborne (1847–1907), was to sugar what his contemporary John D. Rockefeller was to oil. Havemeyer masterminded the creation of the so-called Sugar Trust in 1887, after organizing the merger of a dozen and a half refineries in several cities. See sugar trust. Legal challenges began almost at once and continued past his death. Yet the American Sugar Refining Company—its official name—achieved a near-perfect monopoly, at one point controlling 98 percent of the country’s sugar market. See american sugar refining company.