Boomtown Legacy

Ryan Hilton, Engineer

The Phillips and Woodford Wells on Tarr Farm, north of Oil City, Pennsylvania, in 1873.

Nov. 30, 1878: Abandoned Oil Boomtowns

Abandoned Villages

Providence Evening Press, November 30, 1878

While roaming through the oil country our interest was excited by having certain localities pointed out to us as the place where once stood a small city. Perhaps no part of the oil region shows this as much as that situated between Oil City and Titusville, and no place as much as Petroleum Centre. We stand amazed and almost doubt the truth of our informant, when we are told that this is the Petroleum Centre we saw ten years ago.

At that time, as the name implies, it was the centre [center] of the land of grease. Surrounded as it was by the best oil-producing country, it could not be otherwise. Vast numbers of houses, stores, machine shops, etc., were erected in a short time. In 1868, it was a city of 3000 or 4000 inhabitants. Everybody in oildom knew the Petroleum Centre.

Crowds gather outside of the Central House hotel to pose alongside a train at the next door depot.
Petroleum Centre in 1873: Outside of the Central House hotel and train depot. Image c/o the American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, 1860s-1990 (bulk 1955-1990), Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

The city had banks, immense houses, large business houses, and could boast of three or four fine churches. The whole country around the place was a city. At night it was almost impossible to get through the crowd of people collected for all kinds of pleasure. What a change! Nothing can be compared to it except the destruction of war. Instead of fine residences, the ground is now used for potato patches. A road marks the place where the principal street was. The churches yet stand, but nobody remains to attend them. Perhaps there are 100 inhabitants in the town now.

Photograph of John Benninghoff Farm, Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, 1864–1865, taken by John A. Mather, showing the landscape densely packed with oil wells.
John Benninghoff Farm, Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, photographed by John A. Mather in 1864–1865, illustrating the density of oil wells during the Pennsylvania oil boom. Source: American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, 1860s-1990 (bulk 1955-1990), Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

North of the Petroleum Centre we were shown the place where in ’66 and ’67 was the famous Benninghoff Run. There remains not a sign of anything ever having been there. As many will remember, this was one of the best oil territories in the country at that time. On the northern part of this farm was a small town the name of Dublin. It had 200 inhabitants, and was the terminus of the Benninghoff Run Railroad. Not a single house remains. In fact, one would think, not knowing any better, that it had never been cleared. Many towns like this have gone the same way. But perhaps the next of importance is Pithole. Like Petroleum Centre, it is nearly gone. – Exchange.

by

Ryan Hilton

—

in

Looking for more?

Delve deeper into the chronicles of Pennsylvania’s oil past.
Explore more daily oil news sourced from the front pages of the boomtown era.

Let’s go