Titusville

replica of the original Drake oil well

Titusville, city, Crawford county, northwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies along Oil Creek, 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Erie. Founded in 1796 by Jonathan Titus and Samuel Kerr, surveyors for the Holland Land company, it developed as a lumbering and agricultural centre. On August 27, 1859, the world’s first successful oil well was drilled just outside the city limits by Edwin L. Drake, marking the beginning of the state’s oil boom. The nation’s first oil refinery was installed there, and the first extensive natural-gas industry was developed in the area about 1872. On June 5, 1892, Oil Creek flooded, wrecking many oil tanks and causing extensive damage.

Titusville’s last refinery closed in 1950; lumber, steel products, aluminum castings, and plastic products are now the city’s major manufactures. A regional campus (1963) of the University of Pittsburgh is in Titusville. A replica of the original well house and derrick are at the Drake Well Museum. Inc. borough, 1847; city, 1866. Pop. (2000) 6,146; (2010) 5,601.