Friends of Drake Well

Goal: $5,000.00

Specific Need

Friends of Drake Well, Inc., is proud to participate once again in Crawford Gives! This year's goal is to raise $5,000 to be used toward transportation costs for schools planning to visit Drake Well Museum and Park in Titusville, PA, during the 2024-25 school year. Thanks to funding received from last year's Crawford Gives as well as funding received through other grants and organizations, Friends of Drake Well, Inc., was able to pay over $7,450 in transportation costs for 20 different schools within northwestern Pennsylvania, the majority of those schools visiting from Crawford County. Additional grants helped in paying for the admissions costs of those schools plus 10 more (those ten did not qualify for free transportation). Drake Well Museum and Park welcomed over 1,300 schoolchildren in 2023-24 as a result of Crawford Gives and other foundations and grants that made the school tour admissions/transportation program possible. Please help us in reaching our goal this year so that we may continue the success of this program and increase our visitation!

Mission

Friends of Drake Well, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) community-based nonprofit organization that supports the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission in the administration and operation of Drake Well Museum and Park. Drake Well Museum and Park uncovers, preserves and shares Pennsylvania's rich petroleum history, connecting past to present through a diversity of perspectives and inspiring our global audience to strive for a sustainable energy future.

Profile

Drake Well Museum and Park is located in Titusville, Pennsylvania, on the site of the original Drake Well, drilled on August 27, 1859. Edwin L. Drake, sent by the Seneca Oil Company, came to Titusville earlier that year with instructions to drill an oil well along the banks of Oil Creek. Drilled by William "Uncle Billy" Smith under the direction of Drake, the well struck oil at 69.5 feet. With the success of Drake's Well came thousands of speculators and businessmen to the oil regions of western Pennsylvania. Wells were drilled up and down Oil Creek, eventually moving outward into the countryside as more and more people attempted to "strike it rich." Towns sprung up overnight and were abandoned just as quickly including the famous Pithole City. Despite the early days of boom and bust, the petroleum industry took hold, ultimately growing outside of the confines of Pennsylvania and turning into a major global enterprise.

Drake Well Museum and Park chronicles the birth and development of the early petroleum industry in Pennsylvania as well as its growth into the international petroleum industry of today. The museum's 240-acre site features a board-for-board replica of Edwin L. Drake’s engine house built around the National Historic Landmark well, operating oil field machinery, 12,000 square feet of interior exhibits, and the largest artifact and archival collection focused on the birth of the modern petroleum industry. Drake Well Museum and Park also boasts 2 satellite heritage sites—Historic Pithole City near Pleasantville, PA, and McClintock Well #1 in Rouseville, PA, one of oldest continuously producing oil wells in the world.

In addition to engaging and experiential indoor/outdoor learning environments, Drake Well Museum and Park offers an abundance of year-round recreational opportunities including paved bike trails, delayed harvest fly fishing in Oil Creek, modern picnic facilities, hiking trails, a neighboring 9,000-acre state park, and more.