Places near me Random place
All Canada Ontario Oil Museum of Canada

Oil Museum of Canada

A petroleum heritage museum on the site where James Miller Williams dug the first commercial oil well on the continent in 1858.

Oil Springs, Ontario

  Tlang519
Langbank Post Office moved on site from Dawn township in 1975   P199
Old pumps still pumping   Elizabeth vR / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Oil was first discovered in southwestern Ontario in 1857 and is being pumped from the ground to this day. That pre-dates discoveries in Alberta by more than 50 years.  

James Miller Williams the father of the petroleum industry in Canada, established the first commercially successful oil well in 1858 and igniting the first oil boom in North America. (Take that J.R. Ewing!)

The Oil Museum of Canada is located on land that was designated as the First Commercial Oil Field National Historic Site of Canada in 1925.  The museum itself was opened to the public in July 1960. On site, you can see the small pumpjacks toiling away.  Locals may refer to them as a donkey pumper, nodding donkey, pumping unit, horsehead pump, rocking horse, beam pump, dinosaur, sucker rod pump, grasshopper pump,  or jack pump.

You will certainly get a whiff of the oil smell now and then....and some other smells as the site is located in a delightfully rural location.

Related Tags

History Museums Oil

Community Contributors

Added By

Elizabeth vR

Published

June 23, 2023

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources

Nearby Places

Explore the Destination Guide

Related Places

  • Webster, Massachusetts

    Samuel Slater Experience

    This interactive museum is dedicated to the “Father of the American Industrial Revolution” and founder of one of the nation’s earliest boomtowns.

  •

    Martinsburg, West Virginia

    Belle Boyd House

    Once the home of a noted Civil War spy, the two-story brick house now serves as a museum.

  • Henry VIII’s Wine Cellar.

    London, England

    Henry VIII’s Wine Cellar

    Once part of a magnificent Tudor palace, this wine cellar is a time capsule underneath the Ministry of Defence.

  • Interior of the historic roundhouse.

    Baltimore, Maryland

    The B&O Railroad Museum

    At the birthplace of American railroading, a world-class collection of historic trains.

    Sponsored by Visit Maryland

  • Portumna, Ireland

    Irish Workhouse Centre

    A well-preserved, 19th-century Irish workhouse recounts a grim time in the country’s history.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member

Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member