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TITUSVILLE IRON COMPANY / TITUSVILLE IRON WORKS COMPANY (STRUTHERS WELLS CORPORATION), 1860 - 1971
John C. Bryan and William McMullen, Irish immigrant employees of the Brown Brothers (later Struthers Wells Company) machine shop of Warren, PA, started a machine shop / foundry facility on South Franklin Street, Titusville, 1860. This factory was the first machine shop founded exclusively for serving the oil industry. It was located “a year and a mile from the Drake Well.”
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AMERICAN OIL WORKS / PRODUCERS & REFINERS OIL COMPANY / CONSOLIDATED SERVICE STATIONS / PENNSYLVANIA “PENN - DRAKE” REFINING COMPANY, TITUSVILLE, PA (1885 - 1948)
William (Wilhelm) Teege, a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, emigrated to America, 1861. Teege settled in Titusville, where he supposedly knew Edwin L. Drake.
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PENNZOIL PLANT #3/ KOPPERS TAR & CHEMICAL DIVISION - NEVILLE SYNTHESE - RHONE POULENC/ MERISOL
Venango County’s last link to petrochemical processing has operated on the Oil City - Rouseville Road (Route 8) since 1943 - 1944. Originally constructed to process 100 -octane gasoline for U.S. Navy airplanes and PT boats, the facility now manufactures BHT antioxidant preservatives and meta cresol. Here is its history:
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EMLENTON’S LUMBER INDUSTRY WAS INTERTWINED WITH OIL PRODUCTION AND TRADITIONS
Emlenton, Venango County, PA, long associated with the petroleum and natural gas industries, also has had connections to logging and lumbering. Some of the town’s noted oil industry figures also owned lumber mills. Here are some of their histories:
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BEERS & CORNEN / BEERS BROTHERS & COMPANY/ BEERS CAMP
Henry Irving Beers was born in Ridgefield, CT, June 8, 1830. At age 15 Henry went to New York City where he eventually managed a store owned by his brother - in - law, Peter P. Cornen. Henry Beers successfully operated the store while Cornen decided to seek gold in California, 1848 - 1849.
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JOHN KLEIN - NATIONAL TRANSIT PUMP & MACHINE COMPANY FOUR - CYCLE GAS ENGINES
John S. Klein (1849 - 1902) was born in Nassau, Germany. He arrived in America with his parents, shortly after birth, during the summer of 1849.
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HOWARD & NICKLIN LUMBER COMPANY
Figures that don’t lie tell in short notice the story of Franklin’s rock - ribbed ascendancy….
“A choice assortment of industries is mainly responsible for this gratifying condition of affairs. Vast refineries, steel [rolling and casting] works, [machine] tool plants, manifold [forms] works, asbestos mills, paper mills, paint works, boiler works, machine shops, [ferrous and non - ferrous] foundries, soap works, carriage works, flouring mills, brickyards, sucker - rod factory, planing mills, tinware factories, marble works, flagstone quarries, a steam laundry and a brewery whoop it up briskly twelve months a year.” - John J. McLaurin, Franklin (1902)
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CONTINENTAL REFINING COMPANY / CONTINENTAL OIL REFINING COMPANY
“Continental Oil Refinery - This company is owned by the Anderton Estate. It has still capacity of one thousand barrels daily, manufacturing all the products obtainable from Pennsylvania crude oil, and gives employment to from forty to fifty men.
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VENANGO PORTABLE DRILLING MACHINE COMPANY/ OIL CITY WOOD WORKING MANUFACTURING COMPANY
It is thoroughly practical, very simple and easy to operate.
“It is light and easily moved - one team can move it from one location to another under ordinary circumstances.
“The Derrick rests on the machine, between the bull wheels, this giving the derrick its full strength and the machine rigidity…. -
CRYSTAL OIL WORKS
The Crystal Oil Works are owned by J.W. Fawcett and E.V.D. Selden. The daily capacity of this refinery is nine hundred barrels, and a force of thirty - three employees is kept busy.