The Allegheny-Arrow Oil Company started construction of the refinery in 1929 on a 21-acre tract of land close to the railroad yards, and plans for a $600,000 refinery have been announced in Canton two newspapers in the summer of 1929. The Canton refinery was operational in 1931, with preliminary refining capability estimated at 780 barrels per day (bpd).

After being idled for a few years after the inventory market crash, Canton resumed operations in 1936. In 1937, it was bought by Allied Oil Company, which then merged with Ashland Oil Refining Firm in 1948. In 1950, the Canton refinery went by means of a two-yr major modernization and growth. Capability was increased to 25,000 bpd.

In 1957, Ashland constructed a 7,000 bpd catalytic reformer, which increased rated capacity to 34,000 bpd. The Canton Refinery was operated by Ashland till Marathon Oil and Ashland Inc. merged their downstream business in 1998, after which became wholly owned by Marathon in 2005. The company has continued to spend money on the ability with the additions of the distillate hydrotreater in 2009, the cell source air toxics tower in 2011 and the condensate splitter in 2014.