Oil City will soon boast two new industrial works of art that pay tribute to the city’s history.
Several months ago, Dave Anderton and Dave Heinzer came across a “pile of junk” in the city’s Hasson Park. The twin patches of rusty iron rubble consisted of old oil pumping jacks, strewn across a partially wooded area in the public park.
“We looked at them and discovered they were old Oilwell Supply pumping jacks and were made at the company’s works in Siverly,” said Anderton. “They were abandoned and I couldn’t let them go.”
After a long and circuitous effort to learn who owned the wells, the pair eventually obtained the iron pieces and launched a refurbishment project through the Oil City Heritage Society and the Venango Museum of Art, Science and Industry.
The Heritage Society, led by Anderton, who is president, is headquartered at the Oil City Library. The museum is located on Seneca Street.
Ron Gustafson and Dave Anderton talk about their project to refurbish an old Oilwell Supply pumping jack. Anderton and friend Dave Heinzer found the old pumping jack in the woods. (By Richard Sayer)
The jacks have been sandblasted and painted by Ron Gustafson of Gustafson General Contracting in Oil City.
They are painted black and feature embossed and orange painted Oilwell Supply lettering on the pump jack’s cross piece. Orange and black were the company colors.
“We did the old wood oil derricks in Titusville but this is the first pumping jack I’ve done,” said Gustafson. “This was just a pile of loose parts but then Dave came up with the drawings. My 18-year-old son, Billy, was real interested in this project, the creativity part of it, and he did most of the work.”
The schematic drawing was found in an early 1900s Oilwell Supply catalogue. The refurbished jacks are known as Simplex versions made at the Siverly plant around 1910.
One more piece, a well-head, is being provided by local oilman and driller Ray Stiglitz. That, too, was made at Oilwell Supply.
Once completed, the jacks will be permanently installed by Gustafson. One will be located in front of City Hall and the other will be placed in front of the museum. A tentative installation date is set for the fall.
Lynn Pacior-Malys of Oil City is designing a plaque that outlines the Oilwell Supply history and will be installed near each jack. Photographs and a brief history will be included on the raised historical tablet.
To pay for the dual-jack project, the museum and historical society are accepting contributions, said Anderton. The total cost is pegged at between $8,000 and $10,000.
“Oilwell has such a great history in this area and we’re hoping former plant employees or their families will help us pay for this,” he said.
Contributions may be sent to the Oil City Heritage Society at the Oil City Library or the Venango Museum.
A singular history
The company origins date to 1861 when New York resident John Eaton came to the Oil Valley to determine if there was support for an equipment supplier. After a series of small partnerships, the enterprise featured manufacturing plants and stores throughout the oil region.
The business was consolidated in 1878 into Oilwell Supply with Eaton as president, E.T. Howes as treasurer and Kenton Chickering as secretary.
Rapid expansion of the business prompted the Oilwell Supply owners to purchase the former Imperial Refinery in Oil City’s Siverly area in 1900. Chickering was put in charge of the works.
Within two decades, the company’s Imperial Works would be the world’s largest single factory devoted exclusively to oil and gas machinery and equipment. The plant stretched over 44 acres, boasted 37 buildings and 1,700 employees by the 1950s.
Oilwell Supply produced more than 1,000 products from engines to couplings, pipes, sucker rods, pumping jacks and more. It was a key producer of munitions during World War II.
One of its more popular pumping jacks was the 1916 Simplex model that was sold as a complete unit ready for assembly.
The Siverly plant, which became a division of U.S. Steel in 1930, fell victim to the oil industry shift to Texas and closed in 1987.
