Petrolia-1874 Looking East
Petrolia-1874 Looking West
A number of interesting events occurred to establish Petrolia as a prominent oil town: The Oil Springs oil boom had ended, King had brought in his Petrolia well, a rail spur was completed to Petrolia in 1866, and the American Civil War had ended. Petrolia started out as a rough and tumble oil town reminescent of the old "goldrush" towns. Gary May, in his book Hard Oiler! describes early Petrolia best, "In its early days, Petrolia was known as smelly and oil-smeared, loud and uncouth. But as the young Canadian oil business began to mature, so did Petrolia. Soon it had shed its veneer of transience, its odour of impermanence...Petrolia began to take on the aura of a community that would stay. At its zenith in the 1890s, it would be known as the most significant manufacturing town in the Dominion." p.59	Petrolia Flats circa 1900 Centre Street Oil Fields
Bear Creek	Pyramid of Barrels
Canadian Oil Refinery 1905	Van Tuyl & Fairbank 1930
Grand Trunk Railway 1905	Petrolia Fire Department
Petrolia Ambulance Built by Petrolia Wagon Company	Imperial Oil Office
Town Hall 1908	Fairbank House "Sunnyside"
Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital Former Englehart Residence "Glenview"	English Residence
Kerr House "Nemo Hall"	Victoria Playhouse 1990s Restored after Fire
Follow this link to The Petrolia Discovery