Pithole, Pennsylvania

Pithole or Pithole City is a ghost town in Cornplanter Township, Venango County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.  It is about  from Oil Creek State Park and the Drake Well Museum.  The first oil well was in that area. The quick growing of Pithole and then fast decline made it one of the most famous of the oil boomtowns.Darrah 1972, p. 240.

Oil was found at wells close to Pithole in January 1865.  A large number of people moved to the area.  Many of these people were land speculators.  The town was built in May. By December, the area became an official town with about 20,000 people living in it. Pithole had at least 54 hotels, 3 churches, the third biggest post office in Pennsylvania, a newspaper, a theater, a railroad, the world's first pipeline, and a red-light district "the likes of Dodge City's". By 1866, less oil was being made in Pithole. Oil was found in other towns near Pithole.  This made many people from Pithole leave to live in those places. By 1877, the town no longer existed.Bell, Herbert C 1890. History of Venango County, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Brown, Runk.

The site was cleared of plants and was given to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1961. A visitors center with information about the history of Pithole, was built in the 1970s. Pithole was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

 References 

 Sources 









 Other websites 

Official site of Pithole City and the Drake Well Museum
"Pit-Hole City" (1960), folk song about Pithole from a record at YouTube

Category:Settlements in Pennsylvania
Category:Ghost towns in the United States
Category:Venango County, Pennsylvania