Straddling Crawford, Venango, and Warren Counties in northwestern Pennsylvania, Titusville was founded by surveyor and land agent Jonathan Titus in 1796. Most of Titusville's growth stemmed from the completion of the world's first successful commercially drilled oil well by Edwin L. Drake and William A. Smith in August 1859; but petroleum was not the only major factor in the town's economy. Significant developments in agriculture, steel production, boiler and radiator manufacturing, defense and aerospace-related contracting, plastics, textiles, and cutlery manufacturing have also taken place...

In 1859, when oil was successfully drilled near Titusville, the closest railroad was 27 miles away. To fill a transportation need, the Oil Creek Railroad line was completed from Corry to Titusville in 1862. Under a series of mergers, it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad by 1900. When Titusvilles last railroad was about to be abandoned, the Oil Creek Railway Society formed and saved the line. Through vintage photographs, Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad relives the railroad history of a valley that has become a lovely wilderness served by an important railroad.