fire then spread. On December 22, 1884, Pratt’s Astral Oil Works in Greenpoint burned down. While the naptha storage house burned, the tin shop and refinery were saved by firemen. According to Pratt, much of the damages were insured. On January 22, 1885, Pratt Manufacturing Company of New York filed a bill in equity against the Astral Refining Company of Oil City in the US Circuit Court of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pratt Manufacturing Company alleged that the term “Astral” as applied to petroleum was their trademark. In April 1886, a case was heard where Pratt Manufacturing Company sued the Astral Refining Company, Limited, to stop the latter from using the words “Astral Oil” as branding with refined petroleum. The case was dismissed. Built in 1885–1886 as affordable housing for employees of Astral Oil Works, the Astral Apartments was a massive brick and terra cotta building in the Queen Anne style featuring a three-story-high round arch recess. 1900-1920: Complete absorption by Standard Oil On November 11, 1905, Rogers was on the stand in the Exchange Building in the office of Walter I. Badger for three hours. He testified in a $50,000,000 lawsuit brought by Cadwallader M. Raymond and the estate of B. F. Greenough against him and other Standard Oil operators. The estate sought to recover royalties on a patent that Rogers admitted that Captain Greenough had pledged to Rogers and Pratt for a royalty contract years earlier, which rendered kerosene oil non-explosive. Pratt founded and endowed the Pratt Institute. Under the Sherman Antitrust Act, Standard Oil Trust was broken up into 34 companies in 1911. Standard Oil’s Brooklyn refinery, at 20 acres, burned down in 1919, in what may have been an intentional attempt to clear the land and draw insurance. The former site of Astral Oil Works is now the location of the Bayside Fuel Oil depot at Bushwick Inlet. See also Wamsutta Oil Refinery History of union busting in the United States References External links Picture of Astral Oil Works Defunct oil companies of the United States Greenpoint, Brooklyn