Oil Boom

Oil boom Cridersville Ohio Lima oil field petroleum wells drilling industry local business Auglaize County Northwest Ohio history Cridersville Historical Society. September 22, 1885 On September 22, 1885 Benjamin Faurot was drilling a well in Lima in hopes of discovering natural gas. Instead his drillers found crude oil. Within a year, the area around Lima became the largest known oil field in the world. Early in 1886 several farms around Cridersville were leased by oil drilling companies. By the fall, the village was well represented with oil men. Soon thousands of acres in the area were leased for drilling oil wells. Row of oil derricks along a road outside of Cridersville in the 1890s Newspapers began to print stories stating “the extension of the oil field around Cridersville makes a bright future for the town, as it will now become truly an oil town.” Visitors from Lima and Wapakoneta came to Cridersville to see the oil wells and witness the excitement. It was esti- mated that nearly 2,000 men were working the local oil fields by the spring of 1887. All of this oil activity soon resulted in the construction of new buildings for stores, hotels, and restaurants in Cridersville. Most of these were locat- ed in the first block east of the railroad on Main Street. Shooting an oil well on the George Mowery farm on the east side of Shawnee Road just north of Cridersville. This well came in as a gusher! The Cridersville Historical Society was established in 1987 to promote interest and understanding of local history. The Society operates the Cridersville Historical Museum in an 1880 church located at 111 W. Sugar Street. The museum is open the second and fourth Sunday of each month from 1:00 -4:00 p.m. May through October. A special group tour can be scheduled by calling 419-645-4782. Cridersville was located at the center of the oil field This map shows the northern part of Duchouquet Township in 1898. Cridersville is shown in the upper right. Each black dot represents a pumping oil well at that time. The leasing agents, representing the oil companies, would lease land from land owners to drill...