Ross S. Sterling entered the oil business in 1909 by investing in the Humble oil field north of Houston, and two years later he formed the Humble Oil Company with five partners: Walter W. Fondren, Charles B. Goddard, William Stamps Farlish, Robert Lee Blaffer, and Harry Carothers Wiess. Sterling's brother, Frank, became a company director in 1914. In 1917 the company received a state charter as Humble Oil & Refining Company, and to finance construction of a refinery, it sold fifty percent of its stock to Standard Oil of New Jersey. The first oil was pumped into a still at the new refinery on May 11, 1920. As the company expanded and employed more people, a town grew up around the refinery, and the company provided low-interest home loans to employees. By the 1930s, research at the Baytown refinery led to the production of vital products for the U.S. war effort during World War II. After the war, the refinery expanded further, and in 1959 the company merged with Standard Oil of New Jersey. The Humble name remained in use until 1972, when Standard Oil Company (NJ) became Exxon Corporation.