Ida Tarbell was a woman who helped paved the way for women to enter careers that were not traditionally filled by women - author, editor, and investigative journalist. She was born in Wattsburg and grew up in Rouseville and Titusville in the heart of the oil region of Northwestern Pennsylvania. First hand knowledge of the oil industry, through her father's involvement in it, was of great help to her in penning "The History of the Standard Oil Company" which brought her to the attention of the nation. The articles she wrote, which later became the book, on the business practices of the monopoly created by Standard Oil under the leadership of John D. Rockefeller, were instrumental in causing the breakup of the Standard Oil Company, an historical landmark.

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