Frank Sterling

Frank Prior Sterling was a 20th century oilman and oil industry businessperson, based in Houston, Texas.

Frank, Ross, and his other Sterling brothers grew up on Double Bayou in Chambers County, southern Texas. They were ambitious and built a sail boat to carry vegetables to Galveston for sale.

Frank Sterling was one of nine founders of the Humble Oil & Refining Company of Houston, Texas in 1917. Their first wells were in the Humble, Texas area. Frank Sterling, who was a post-production expert, became a Vice President of Humble in 1921.

Humble Oil was one of the best oil & gas finding companies in the history of petroleum exploration. Humble Oil merged with Standard Oil of New Jersey to form Exxon, Inc., the present day ExxonMobil corporation.

Ross S. Sterling, Frank Sterling's brother, was the first president of Humble Oil, and later became the Governor of Texas. Florence Sterling, Frank Sterling's sister, also worked at Humble Oil and became its Corporate Secretary.

Frank Sterling married Isla Randa Carroll (b. 1885) of Temple, Texas. In 1925, Frank and Isla Sterling built a house designed by John Staub, located on Lot 5/1505 South Boulevard in the fashionable Broadacres subdivision of Houston. The Sterling Mansion was donated to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts in 1948, but in 1951 it was sold by the museum to Gus Wortham. Lyndall Wortham bequeathed the house to the University of Houston on her death in July 1980, to be used as a residence for the University President.

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