Drake Well Museum facts for kids
Replica Drake Well engine house and derrick
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| Established | 1934 |
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| Location | 202 Museum Lane, Titusville, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Type | Industry museum |
The Drake Well Museum and Park is a special place in Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania. It tells the amazing story of how the American oil industry began in 1859. This is where Colonel Edwin Drake drilled the world's first successful oil well!
The museum collects and keeps many items from those early oil days. You can see a rebuilt version of the Drake Well. It shows how people first used drilling methods, like those for salt, to get oil from the ground.
This historic site is about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Titusville. It's a great place to learn about a big part of history.
Contents
What Can You See and Do at Drake Well?
The museum has a full-size copy of the oil well drilled by Colonel Edwin Drake. You can also see working oil field equipment. The museum has exhibits both inside and outside.
- Learn and Explore: There's a library with many books and old papers. You can also see thousands of old photos.
- Special Events: The museum hosts fun events like the Fall Gas-Up engine show. They also have school tours and a Nitroglycerine Show.
- Visitor Services: You can watch an orientation film to learn more. There are guided tours and a museum store too.
Close by, you can visit Oil Creek State Park. You can also ride the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad.
The state of Pennsylvania has spent a lot of money to make the museum even better. A new exhibit is called "There's a Drop of Oil and Gas in Your Life Everyday." It shows over 530 old items and many stories. These stories are about how the oil and gas industries started and grew. You can even find interactive displays. One shows a talk between John D. Rockefeller and Ida Tarbell. She wrote a famous book about Standard Oil.
Who Runs the Museum?
The Drake Well Museum and Park is managed by two groups. They are the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) and the Friends of Drake Well, Inc. It used to be a Pennsylvania state park. Later, it was moved to the PHMC to be managed.
Cool Exhibits to Explore
The museum has several exciting exhibits that show how the oil industry worked.
Central Power Lease: Pumping Many Wells at Once
The Central Power Lease was a smart way to pump several oil wells at the same time. It used just one engine! A 20 horsepower (15 kW) Olin engine would turn a special gear. This gear was connected to many long rods. These rods could reach wells far away, even going over or under roads. The engine had a "barker" on its exhaust pipe. This made a special sound. It helped operators know the engine was still running from a distance. This engine runs daily from May to October, powered by natural gas.
Drake Well Replica: A Look Back at History
The Drake Well replica was built in 1945. It's an exact copy of the engine house and derrick from the 1860s. The original building burned down in 1859. It was quickly rebuilt a month later. The museum used old photos to make this copy perfect. A working copy of the original steam engine was added in 1986. This engine pumps oil from the well from May to October. The oil used here comes from McClintock Well #1. This well is near Rouseville and is the oldest oil well still working!
Silver Run Pump Station: Moving Oil by Pipeline
The Silver Run Pump Station was built in 1894. It was made by the National Transit Company. This company managed pipelines for Standard Oil. The station worked in Franklin until 1968. It was given to the museum in 1981. It shows how oil was moved through pipes.
Visitor Center: Your Starting Point
The Visitor Center is where your visit begins. You can watch an orientation film here. It also has the new main exhibit, "There's a Drop of Oil and Gas in Your Life Everyday." This center also has a research library. You can see the Amoskeag steam pumper Colonel Drake (from 1868). This pumper was used in Titusville. There's also a wagon like the one John A. Mather used for his photography. The new exhibit also displays many more items, including John Wilkes Booth's cane.
The Story of Oil: How It All Began
How Oil Drilling Started
People knew oil was in the Oil Creek Valley in Pennsylvania. But there was no easy way to get it out. For a long time, oil was mostly used as medicine. It was also used to make early kerosene. In the late 1850s, the Seneca Oil Company sent Colonel Edwin L. Drake to find a better way to get "Rock oil."
Drake's company leased land south of Titusville. This spot was chosen because Native Americans had skimmed oil from the water there for hundreds of years. Oil Creek still has some natural oil seeps today. Drake tried many ways to get more oil. He even tried digging a deep hole by hand. But the hole collapsed, almost hurting his workers. So, Drake decided to try drilling.
Local water well drillers told him, "You cannot drill for Rock Oil." Drake had to travel far to find a salt well driller named William A. Smith. In the summer of 1859, after many challenges, they finally drilled a successful oil well on August 27. This event is seen as the start of the modern oil industry. It changed the world forever!
How Oil Was Transported
At first, teamsters (people with horse-drawn wagons) carried the oil. They took it to barges. These barges were filled and sent down Oil Creek to Oil City. From there, the oil was moved to steamships and sent to Pittsburgh.
In 1862, trains started moving the oil. The Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad was finished. It connected Titusville and Corry. From Corry, oil could be sent on bigger train lines. By 1865, pipelines were built right next to the train tracks. This meant teamsters were not needed as much. The next year, the railroad line went further south. In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant visited Titusville to see the booming oil industry. The first pipeline was built in 1862. By the late 1860s, pipelines crisscrossed the entire oil region.
New Businesses Grew with Oil
Many other businesses quickly grew in the area because of oil. Eight refineries were built near Titusville between 1862 and 1868. Tools for drilling were needed, so several iron works were built. Titusville grew very fast, from 250 people to 10,000 almost overnight. In 1866, it became a city.
The first oil millionaire was Jonathan Watson. He lived in Titusville and owned the land where Drake's well was drilled. This same land is now part of Oil Creek State Park and the Drake Well Museum.
Fires in the Oil Region
Fires were always a danger around oil. One of the worst fires happened on June 11, 1880. It was called "Black Friday." Almost 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) of oil burned after a lightning strike hit an oil tank. The fire lasted for three days. Even though oil worth $2 million was lost, no one died.
Another fire happened on June 5, 1892. Oil Creek flooded, and a tank of benzine tipped over. The benzine caught fire. In the explosions that followed, 60 people died. Another lightning strike in 1894 caused 27,000 barrels (4,300 m3) to be lost in a fire. Oil production was highest in the late 1880s. It has gone down a lot since then. However, the museum still uses oil from another well for demonstrations.
See also
- List of petroleum museums
- Oil Region
