Quick: where can you find a ghost town? You probably imagined a dusty old town in the American west, probably in or near a desert, the decrepit façades of a once-thriving boomtown looming over an abandoned main street. You can imagine the cowboys and the stagecoaches and other signs of Old West civilization, all of which pulled stake and moved on when the nearby gold mines played out. Ghost towns aren’t restricted to the American west. They occur anywhere that people have picked up and moved along for whatever reason. There’s more of a romance with Old West ghost town, thanks mostly to Hollywood, but there are plenty of others.
One ghost town not found in the Old West is Pithole \pɪtˈ hoʊl\, Pennsylvania. Pithole didn’t exist before 1865, following the oil boom in western Pennsylvania that started in the wake of the construction of the Drake Well in Titusville in 1859. For a brief period in the 1860s, western Pennsylvania was producing most of the world’s crude oil. This might seem incredible, but it really isn’t. At the time, oil well technology hadn’t been exported to anywhere else. Also, the world just didn’t need nearly as much oil then as it does now. The oil reserves of western Pennsylvania have never approached those of places like Texas or Saudi Arabia or Siberia and, barring an unexpected discovery of massive oil reserves, it never will (though arguably, a lot of potential oil can be extracted through fracking).
Oil wells in Pithole, 1865
Western Pennsylvania was a great place to strike oil. Railroads could haul the oil to the centers of industry in the Northeast and around the Great Lakes, where it was in demand. If you struck oil in a place like Texas or Wyoming, you still had the problem of getting the oil to someone who could use it, since much of Texas and none of Wyoming enjoyed rail service yet. Pennsylvania was crisscrossed with railroads by the 1860s.
An oil strike near Pithole caused a crush of people to the new town. In fact, that oil strike is why the town came into existence in January, 1865. Many people came to try to find oil, but many others were land speculators. These were people who would claim land, whether or not they knew it had any resources or other value, and they’d sell it to others who are looking to do the work to develop the land. All this industry called for places to live, with the population going from zero to 20,000 that year. At its peak, Pithole boasted 54 buildings, including an 1100-seat theater, three churches, and a great deal of bars, as well as many brothels. At the time, Dodge City, Kansas had infamy for its red light district, but it was said that Pithole’s rivaled Dodge City’s.
Downtown Pithole, 1865
The rapid construction demand caused settlers to ignore building codes and safety measures. In many cases, buildings had mud floors, since high demand made lumber too expensive, to say nothing of cement or brick. Many prospectors and speculators lived in tents. The lack of infrastructure caused other problems, too. Clean water was hard to come by. Those who owned the few water wells in town would sell the water by the bucket, and they did a pretty good trade this way.
Pithole was incorporated as a borough by the fall of 1865, and it had its own newspaper, police department, and laws. Prostitution was against the law in Pithole, just like it always had been in Pennsylvania, but the frequent raids on Pithole’s brothels did nothing to discourage them. Pithole also once boasted the third-busiest post office in the commonwealth, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
In December 1865, the Oil City and Pithole Railroad opened, making it easier to ship oil out of the area. Before then, teamsters would carry barrels of oil on dirt roads, using horse-drawn wagons. This was unreliable, since rainstorms would wash out parts of the dirt roads, so locals invested in a plank road to connect Pithole to Titusville. A plank road is a road covered with wooden planks. Maybe not the best construction material for a road, but it was a whole lot more reliable than the dodgy dirt roads. In October 1865, the world’s first oil pipeline was opened. It was 2 inches in diameter and carried oil over a distance of 5½ miles to the Oil Creek Railroad in Titusville. The Oil City and Pithole Railroad became the preferred means of shipping freight and people, once it was completed, especially with another innovation that grew out of this oil boom: the railroad tank car. It was a simpler rig than what you see today. These early tank cars were just two large tanks mounted on a flatcar, but they made a lot of difference in the hauling capacity.
Cap on an oil well (left); Oil Creek Railroad hauling barrels of oil (right)
By late 1865, Pithole hit its capacity, producing 2500 barrels of oil per day. 1865 would prove to be Pithole’s best year. In February 1866, a fire destroyed most of the main street, as well as significant parts of two other streets. The wooden buildings and the lack of a fire department proved to be poor factors when organizing a town. In March, a chain of banks owned by Rep. Charles Vernon Culver (R-PA) failed after a land speculation scheme of his failed, as well. Creditors pursued Culver in the courts, which ruined his banks, which ruined (temporarily) the oil industry in the region.
Pithole itself was plagued by fires throughout 1866. Much more of the town burned, and even one of the oil wells caught fire. With other oil strikes happening in other parts of western Pennsylvania, most of the businesses and residents packed up and left, selling their property when they could, but usually just abandoning it. In 1868, the newspaper relocated its offices to nearby Petroleum Center, Pennsylvania (which is nearly deserted today).
The 1870 census records Pithole as having a total population of 237—1% of its population just five years previous! Pithole was disincorporated in 1877, and anything there that could be sold off was sold. Today Pithole exists only as a historic site where visitors can learn its history at a visitor’s center, and walk around the grounds of the ruined boomtown.
Abandoned oil well near Pithole today
One ghost town not found in the Old West is Pithole \pɪtˈ hoʊl\, Pennsylvania. Pithole didn’t exist before 1865, following the oil boom in western Pennsylvania that started in the wake of the construction of the Drake Well in Titusville in 1859. For a brief period in the 1860s, western Pennsylvania was producing most of the world’s crude oil. This might seem incredible, but it really isn’t. At the time, oil well technology hadn’t been exported to anywhere else. Also, the world just didn’t need nearly as much oil then as it does now. The oil reserves of western Pennsylvania have never approached those of places like Texas or Saudi Arabia or Siberia and, barring an unexpected discovery of massive oil reserves, it never will (though arguably, a lot of potential oil can be extracted through fracking).
Oil wells in Pithole, 1865
Western Pennsylvania was a great place to strike oil. Railroads could haul the oil to the centers of industry in the Northeast and around the Great Lakes, where it was in demand. If you struck oil in a place like Texas or Wyoming, you still had the problem of getting the oil to someone who could use it, since much of Texas and none of Wyoming enjoyed rail service yet. Pennsylvania was crisscrossed with railroads by the 1860s.
An oil strike near Pithole caused a crush of people to the new town. In fact, that oil strike is why the town came into existence in January, 1865. Many people came to try to find oil, but many others were land speculators. These were people who would claim land, whether or not they knew it had any resources or other value, and they’d sell it to others who are looking to do the work to develop the land. All this industry called for places to live, with the population going from zero to 20,000 that year. At its peak, Pithole boasted 54 buildings, including an 1100-seat theater, three churches, and a great deal of bars, as well as many brothels. At the time, Dodge City, Kansas had infamy for its red light district, but it was said that Pithole’s rivaled Dodge City’s.
Downtown Pithole, 1865
The rapid construction demand caused settlers to ignore building codes and safety measures. In many cases, buildings had mud floors, since high demand made lumber too expensive, to say nothing of cement or brick. Many prospectors and speculators lived in tents. The lack of infrastructure caused other problems, too. Clean water was hard to come by. Those who owned the few water wells in town would sell the water by the bucket, and they did a pretty good trade this way.
Pithole was incorporated as a borough by the fall of 1865, and it had its own newspaper, police department, and laws. Prostitution was against the law in Pithole, just like it always had been in Pennsylvania, but the frequent raids on Pithole’s brothels did nothing to discourage them. Pithole also once boasted the third-busiest post office in the commonwealth, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
In December 1865, the Oil City and Pithole Railroad opened, making it easier to ship oil out of the area. Before then, teamsters would carry barrels of oil on dirt roads, using horse-drawn wagons. This was unreliable, since rainstorms would wash out parts of the dirt roads, so locals invested in a plank road to connect Pithole to Titusville. A plank road is a road covered with wooden planks. Maybe not the best construction material for a road, but it was a whole lot more reliable than the dodgy dirt roads. In October 1865, the world’s first oil pipeline was opened. It was 2 inches in diameter and carried oil over a distance of 5½ miles to the Oil Creek Railroad in Titusville. The Oil City and Pithole Railroad became the preferred means of shipping freight and people, once it was completed, especially with another innovation that grew out of this oil boom: the railroad tank car. It was a simpler rig than what you see today. These early tank cars were just two large tanks mounted on a flatcar, but they made a lot of difference in the hauling capacity.
Cap on an oil well (left); Oil Creek Railroad hauling barrels of oil (right)
By late 1865, Pithole hit its capacity, producing 2500 barrels of oil per day. 1865 would prove to be Pithole’s best year. In February 1866, a fire destroyed most of the main street, as well as significant parts of two other streets. The wooden buildings and the lack of a fire department proved to be poor factors when organizing a town. In March, a chain of banks owned by Rep. Charles Vernon Culver (R-PA) failed after a land speculation scheme of his failed, as well. Creditors pursued Culver in the courts, which ruined his banks, which ruined (temporarily) the oil industry in the region.
Pithole itself was plagued by fires throughout 1866. Much more of the town burned, and even one of the oil wells caught fire. With other oil strikes happening in other parts of western Pennsylvania, most of the businesses and residents packed up and left, selling their property when they could, but usually just abandoning it. In 1868, the newspaper relocated its offices to nearby Petroleum Center, Pennsylvania (which is nearly deserted today).
The 1870 census records Pithole as having a total population of 237—1% of its population just five years previous! Pithole was disincorporated in 1877, and anything there that could be sold off was sold. Today Pithole exists only as a historic site where visitors can learn its history at a visitor’s center, and walk around the grounds of the ruined boomtown.
Abandoned oil well near Pithole today
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