The Pennsylvanian oil rush was a "boom" in petroleum production which occurred in northwestern Pennsylvania from 1859 to about 1870. It was the first oil boom in the United States.
The oil rush began in Titusville, Pennsylvania, when Colonel Edwin L. Drake struck "rock oil" there. Numerous productive, highly profitable oil wells were drilled in the area, oil refineries were built there, Titusville expanded enormously, and an oil exchange was founded.
After 1871, the oil industry was well established, and the "rush" to drill wells and control production was over. Pennsylvania oil production peaked in 1891, but Pennsylvania has some oil industry still today.
The Titusville area had some natural petroleum seeps. In the late 1850s, the Seneca Oil Company (formerly the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company) sent Drake to drill wells on a piece of leased land just south of Titusville near what is now Oil Creek State Park.
Drake hired a salt well driller, William A. Smith, in the summer of 1859. They had many difficulties, but on August 27, they finally drilled a well that could be commercially successful.
Soon other wells were drilled, by Seneca and other companies. Titusville grew from 250 residents to 10,000 almost overnight and in 1866 it incorporated as a city. Several ironworks were built to supply drilling tools. Eight oil refineries were built between 1862 and 1868. Other oil-related businesses quickly exploded on the scene.
The Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad was built to transport oil; it opened in 1862, linking Titusville with the town of Corry, 35 km north on the Erie Railroad. The oil was carried from the wells to the railroad in horse-drawn wagons.
In 1865 pipelines were laid from the oil fields directly to the rail line, ending horse-drawn transport. That same year, the Union City & Titusville Railroad (UC&T) was completed.
In 1866, the railroad line was extended 20 km south to Petroleum Center and Oil City, Pennsylvania. In 1871 the UC&T became part of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad.
Also in 1871, the first oil exchange in the United States was established in Titusville. The exchange later moved away for a few years, but returned in 1881 in a new, brick building. It was dissolved in 1897.
In the fall, President Ulysses S. Grant visited Titusville to view this important region.