Titusville, PA

Titusville, PA - Where oil was discovered!  This area was a lumber community from early 1800 till Drake stroke oil in 1859.  Oil was discovered when it intruded into a salt brine well.  Pittsburgh businessman Samuel Kier sold the solution as medicine "Kier's Petroleum" or "Rock Oil".  3 years later he began distilling it into "carbon oil" for a cheaper and safer lamp fuel.  He had difficulty meeting the demand.  Edwin Drake, along with his driller Billy Smith, solved the supply problem by drilling the first commercially successful well along Oil Creek in 1859.  Using the salt well drilling technology Drake introduced the "well casing" which allowed deeper drilling without the hole collapsing.   Of course this discovery brought people to the area and the area exploded!  Millionaires were born!  Oil companies like Quaker State and Pennzoil were born.  Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller, had a major influenece on the area. 

This Museum / Park is dedicated to the discovery of oil in the Titusville area.  They are doing a nice job.

Location of Drake's orginal well in 1859!

Replicia of Drake's oil rig.  Rememeber lumber was the main industry of the area.  A steam engine powered the drill.  The orginial well burnt 2 months after the first successful find.  The well was shallow at 69' and only produced a minium among of oil.  Drake's concept of drilling and his initial find is what sparked the rush to Titusville!

This shows oil being pumped through the well.  Of course this is just recycled!

Steam engine powering the oil rig.

Museum display discribing flowers in the area. 

Curb side gas pump 1928 - Anyone rememeber this?  What no credit card?

Vintage oil drilling rig.  Notice the wood influence. 

The city of Titusville gained fame and the city grew with the oil.  Titusville has done an excellent job of documenting the historical sites and has an well laid out walking tour of the town.

"Heisman Trophy" - John Heisman was a native of Titusville.

The town has done an excellent job of maintaining the historical buildings!

Beautiful orginial stain glass windows

No house but Drake's home site is identified.

George Cluster (dealer in oil and real estate) house - brick construction which was unusal for a lumber area.

St. Titus R.C. Chruch - built in 1864 and renovated 1929. 

The railroad had a major influence on the oil industry and we had to take a ride.

Nice relaxing ride in a vintage rail car!

The open car allowed a good view of the outside.

A deer is crossing the stream, taken from the train.

The train depot offers rental lodging in rail cars 

Actual house in next photo

We ventured to Franklin, PA to see the nation's largest collection of automatic music machines.  Machines ranged from mid 1800's to 1940.  DeBence Antique Music World.  Just a few photos.  Believe each piece has a good discription peceeding the photo. 

Who remembers this????

OK now now listen to the music.  This is a new experiment.