Summer Travels to Oil Museums

Visiting America’s many petroleum museums is easy.

 

Summertime brings new visitors to community oil and gas museums, including teachers and students anticipating the return of field trips and K-12 programs as the school year approaches. The American Oil & Gas Historical Society advocates visiting these frontline energy educators.

Whether visited on vacation or during the school year, petroleum museums in Texas , Oklahoma, California, and Pennsylvania offer earth science and other petroleum-related exhibits. Visitors to all of oil and gas museums often are met by volunteer docents — retired petroleum geologists, engineers, or other oilfield professionals. 

Texas Energy Museum exhibit in Beaumont.

Petroleum exhibits educate visitors to the Texas Energy Museum in Beaumont, where a 1901 oil discovery at Spindletop Hill launched the modern petroleum industry. Photo by Bruce Wells.

In Texas, the Petroleum Museum in Midland includes many summer energy education programs for kids, as does the Ocean Star, an offshore rig museum in Galveston. Many community museums also are part of annual “derrick festivals,” which take place in Taft, California (West Kern Oil Museum), and other states with oil and gas production.

Alabama has a small county museum in Gilbertown with an “old Hunt oil rig” similar to the one that discovered the first oilfield in Alabama in 1944.

Further, many oil patch communities celebrate their petroleum heritage every summer with parades, special events, and museum tours.

Kids play at Drake Well Museum wooden derrick

Visitors to the Drake Well Museum at Oil Creek in Titusville, Pennsylvania, can tour a replica of Edwin L. Drake’s cable-tool derrick and steam engine house among other outdoor exhibits. Photo by Bruce Wells.

For those interested in the industry’s exploration and production history and traveling this summer, check out these exhibits chronicling the nation’s discoveries.

Western New York boasts a museum in Bolivar with some of the nation’s earliest petroleum artifacts. While dairying and livestock have become the cash crops, the region still produces a small amount of very high-quality oil and natural gas, says Director Kelly Lounsberry. This museum tells the story of oil and natural gas production in the region.

Pioneer Oil Museum of New York

Exhibits at a museum in Bolivar, N.Y., include oilfield engines, maps, documents, pictures, models and tools. Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum once owned a petroleum products company there – and sold oil cans. Photo by Bruce Wells.

The first U.S. well specifically intended to obtain natural gas was dug near Fredonia by William Hart, who had noticed gas bubbles on the surface of a creek. In 1821, he dug a 27-foot well and built a “log pipe” to bring gas to nearby houses for lighting.

Hart’s work led to the formation of the Fredonia Gas Light and Water Works Company – the first U.S. natural gas company, according to the American Gas Association, Washington, D.C., which was founded in 1918.

Further, thanks to the region’s oilfield production, L. Frank Baum opened a petroleum products business in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1883. The future author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz once sold buggy wheel axle grease — and oil cans (learn more in Oil in the Land of Oz).

Petroleum history is important. Support link for AOGHS.

Just to the south of Bolivar, there are many museums and historic attractions in the state where the modern industry began: Pennsylvania.

East of I-79 in northwestern Pennsylvania, the Drake Well Museum in Titusville exhibits “Colonel” Edwin Drake’s famous August 27, 1859, discovery well – today recognized as the first U.S. oil producer

 

The Drake Well Museum’s outdoor exhibits include a recreation of the original cable-tool derrick Drake used. Among the most popular summer attractions for young students is the “Nitro” well-fracturing reenactment demonstrating the use of “go-devils” for fracturing a well.

Visitors also can stop by the museum gift shop to find a reprint of The Early Days of Oil, by Dr. Paul Giddens, considered to be the “Bible” of information about the birth of the U.S. petroleum industry. Many images in the book are from originals made by photographer John A. Mather and preserved at the museum.

Located on 270 Seneca Street in Oil City – in a Beaux Arts building listed in the National Register of Historic Places – the Venango Museum of Art, Science & Industry preserves the oil region’s industrial heritage. Its exhibits include a 1928 Wurlitzer Theater Organ.

Once a world-fomous Pennsylvania boom town, visitors today can walk the grassy paths of Pithole’s former streets.

Once a world-famous Pennsylvania boom town, visitors today can walk the grassy paths of Pithole’s former streets. Photo by Bruce Wells.

Another must-see oil history spot is the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Pithole Visitors Center — the site of a vanished 1865 oil boom town now managed by Drake Well Museum. The once infamous boom town is in Oil Creek State Park

A dedicated group of railroad enthusiasts maintains the Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad, a nonprofit group that offers trips through the historic oil region. Near the railroad is the refurbished home of “Coal Oil” Johnny. Read his fascinating tale in the Legend of “Coal Oil Johnny.”

The Penn-Brag Museum -- and Historical Oil Well Park -- is located three miles south of Bradford, Pennsylvania, on Route 219, near Custer City.

The Penn-Brad Oil Museum — and Historical Oil Well Park — is located three miles south of Bradford, Pennsylvania, on Route 219, near Custer City. Photo by Bruce Wells.

At nearby Oil City is a center dedicated to the study of the oil heritage region at Clarion University, Venango Campus. The Barbara Morgan Harvey Center for the Study of Oil Heritage contains hundreds of rare books of the region, newspaper clippings from the early 1900s, and even minutes from the meetings of early companies, maps, and photographs.

First Billion Dollar Oilfield

About 70 miles to the east of Titusville, the Penn-Brad Oil Museum (and historical oil well park) at Bradford takes visitors back to the early boom times of “The First Billion Dollar Oil Field.” Guided tours are conducted by retired geologists or petroleum engineers who volunteer their time to relate exciting first-hand experiences.

The museum in Custer City is three miles south of Bradford, along Rt. 219. Nearby is a refinery built in 1881 and still operated by the American Refining Group. The facility is considered the oldest continuously operating refinery in America.

 The museum maintains stationary internal combustion engines for education and enjoyment.

The museum maintains stationary internal combustion engines for education and enjoyment. Photo by Bruce Wells.

Before leaving Pennsylvania, visit one of the world’s largest collections of oilfield engines. Century old “hit and miss” gas engines, vintage oilfield equipment, and early electric generators are among the permanent exhibits at a unique “power museum” in Coolspring.

With perhaps the largest 19th-century engine collection in the world, the museum is housed in 13 buildings with about 250 engines – many of them operational.

The Coolspring Power Museum is located east of Pittsburgh just off Route 36 midway between Punxsutawney to the south and Brookville to the north. According to longtime Director Paul E. Harvey, the collection presents an illuminating history of the evolution of internal combustion technology that put an end to the steam-powered era.

Twice a year engine collectors from around the country gather on the extensive grounds – and the “barking” of hundreds of antique engines lasts several days.

Community oil and gas museums are linked to the AOGHS website. Museum events and K-12 education efforts are featured alongside stories of America’s petroleum heritage.

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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please become an AOGHS annual supporter and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2025 Bruce A. Wells.

Citation Information – Article Title: “Summer Travels to Oil Museums” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/energy-education-resources/pennsylvania-petroleum-vacation. Last Updated: July 6, 2025. Original Published Date: May 7, 2013.

Hugoton Natural Gas Museum

Kansas museum preserves history of 1920s natural gas field and world’s greatest source of helium.

 

A small museum in southwestern Kansas preserves the history of one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. The Stevens County Gas & Historical Museum in Hugoton opened in 1961 near a gas well drilled in 1945 and still producing.

Hugoton’s petroleum museum, founded by a group of dedicated volunteers led by Gladys Renfro, serves as a Kansas energy education center. Its exhibits are “a memento of the Hugoton gas field and the progressive development of Stevens County.”
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Louisiana Oil City Museum

Preserving Louisiana petroleum history at Caddo Lake.

 

A 1905 oil discovery at Caddo-Pines brought America’s rapidly growing petroleum industry to northwestern Louisiana. A state museum in appropriately named Oil City tells the story.

Originally the Caddo-Pine Island Oil and Historical Museum, in May 2004 the Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum was dedicated as a state museum under the Louisiana Secretary of State. 

Two rows of oil platforms with derricks in 1911 on Caddo Lake, Louisiana.

Gulf Refining Company in 1911 built drilling platforms to reach the oil beneath Caddo Lake, Louisiana. The early “offshore” technologies worked, and production continues today.

Located about 20 miles north of Shreveport, the first public museum in Louisiana dedicated to the petroleum industry maintains an extensive local history library and collected photographic archives. Exterior exhibits include the former depot of the Kansas City Southern Railroad. (more…)

ConocoPhillips Petroleum Museums

Museums in Bartlesville and Ponca City have preserved Oklahoma exploration and production history. One still does.

 

As part of Oklahoma statehood centennial celebrations in 2007, ConocoPhillips opened two petroleum museums dedicated to preserving the state’s exploration and production history. In April 2025, the spun-off downstream company Phillips 66 closed the museum in Bartlesville, citing a decline in visitors after an earlier decision to require appointment-only visits. 

Often staffed with volunteers like many other Oklahoma oil museums, the Conoco Museum in Ponca City and Phillips Petroleum Company museum in Bartlesville have featured interactive exhibits, oilfield artifacts, and community events along with K-12 education programs about the industry’s energy future. 

Created in 2002 through the merger of Conoco and the Phillips Petroleum, ConocoPhillips reportedly spent $5 million on each museum for the 2007 centennial openings. In 2012, ConocoPhillips separated its refinery, chemical and pipeline assets to create the separate, independent company of Phillips 66.

The permanent closure of the Bartlesville Phillips Petroleum Company Museum (with some artifacts moving to the Frank Phillip Woolaroc Ranch) has left an uncertain future for the statehood centennial’s Conoco Museum, now requiring appointments to visit.

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Edwin Drake and his Oil Well

Biography of father of U.S. oil industry reaches total depth.

 

In August 1859, the man who would launch America’s petroleum industry was down to his last pennies — and a letter was on its way to “Colonel” Edwin L. Drake telling him to cease drilling at Titusville, Pennsylvania. Investors in the first oil company wanted him wanted out.

“As far as the company was concerned, the project was finished,” notes historian William Brice, PhD, in his 2009 biography of Drake, a former railroad conductor. “Fortunately that letter was not delivered until after they found oil.” (more…)

Vintage Oil Postcards from Texas

Petroleum geologist and postcard collector drills into exploration and production history.

 

For anyone interested in learning more about Texas oil and natural gas history and oilfield photography found in vintage postcards, a book by petroleum geologist Jeff A. Spencer offers both in 128 pages. Published by Arcadia Publishing in 2013, Texas Oil and Gas is a gusher of information, images, and a valuable resource for teaching social studies.

Cover of  Texas Oil and Gas.

Published in 2013, Texas Oil and Gas is part of Arcadia Publishing’s series of books featuring historic oil-patch postcards.

A longtime geologist in the Houston area, Spencer has authored or co-authored more than 20 oilfield history papers. His petroleum-related vintage postcard collection includes images from West Virginia, California, Ontario, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and of course Texas. The majority of the book’s more than 200 images are from the author’s private collection. (more…)

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