Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Petrolia, PA

Petrolia is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, whose name leaves no doubt about its origins — it was named for petroleum, the oil that built the town.

The borough grew out of the settlement of Argyle, built on the Campbell farm, and was incorporated as Petrolia Borough in 1873.

The first oil well that drew attention to Butler County as an important oil field was drilled on the Campbell farm, the very ground on which Petrolia was built.

In 1872 the nearby Fanny Jane well struck a huge reserve of oil, and the town of Petrolia rose as derricks multiplied across the surrounding farms.

Petrolia was a center of the 'Fourth sand' oil fever of 1873 and 1874, when operators around Petrolia and Karns City deepened old wells and drilled new ones in one of the most intense bursts of drilling in early oil history.

In its boom years Petrolia piped in natural gas from the Fairview gas wells about a mile away, supplying many houses and illuminating the borough's streets with gas light.

Oil operator George W. Delamater, who later became a Pennsylvania state senator and a candidate for governor, ran wells at Petrolia during the field's heyday.

Petrolia covers just 0.39 square miles in Butler County, all of it land.

The borough's population has fallen with the oil industry: the 2000 census counted 218 people in 89 households, the 2010 census counted 212, and by 2020 only 179 residents remained.