Petrolia is a town in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is part of Lambton County and is surrounded by Enniskillen Township. It is billed as "Canada's Victorian Oil Town" and is often credited with starting the oil industry in North America, a claim shared with the nearby town of Oil Springs.
Lambton Central Collegiate & Vocational Institute (LCCVI) is located in Petrolia.
History
In 1857, James Miller Williams of Hamilton began distilling some of the "tar" lying around Oil Springs (located a few kilometers south from Petrolia), after buying the property rights from Charles Nelson Tripp. In July or August 1858, he struck an oil deposit in Oil Springs while digging a shallow well, sparking the oil drilling industry. In 2008, the 150th anniversary of the discovery, Canada Post issued a stamp commemorating this first commercial oil well, featuring portraits of Charles Tripp and Williams. However, these early wells resulted in a large amount of wastage from gushers, estimated at of oil in 1862 alone.
Petrolia got its start in 1866 when a major gas well was found, resulting in an oil boom that caused many to abandon Oil Springs in favour of this new settlement. The place separated from Enniskillen Township and was incorporated as a town on 25 December of that same year.
Oil production went through several boom periods in Petrolia; one was in 1898 and another in 1938. Some wells sunk in 1938 were initially producing at a price of $2 per barrel. This output, however, often lasted only a few weeks, falling to less than a barrel a day.
Oil men from Petrolia traveled to the far reaches of the world (Gobi Desert, Arctic, Iran, Indonesia, United States, Australia, Russia, and over 80 other countries) teaching others how to find and extract crude oil. Those born and raised in Petrolia are referred to as "Hard Oilers", paying tribute to the toughness of their ancestors. Petrolia is also home to the Petrolia Discovery museum. Some oil fields in the area are still operational.
Climate
Demographics
thumb|right|Petrolia main street
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Petrolia had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
| 1871 |2651
| 1881 |3465
| 1891 |4357
| 1901 |4135
| 1911 |3518
| 1921 |3148
| 1931 |2596
| 1941 |2801
| 1951 |3105
| 1956 |3426
| 1961 |3708
| 1966 |3929
| 1971 |4044
| 1976 |4394
| 1981 |4234
| 1986 |4347
| 1991 |4594
|1996| 4908
|2001| 4849
|2006| 5222
|2011| 5528
|2016| 5742
|2021| 6013
Attractions
thumb|right|Victoria Hall, housing Petrolia's municipal offices and a theatre, was built in 1889
Petrolia is home to Victoria Hall, a National Historic Site of Canada. Originally a fire hall, municipal office, police hall, jail and opera house, it was completed in 1889 for a total cost of $35,000. In January 1989, a fire caused extensive damage. It was subsequently restored, and re-opened in 1992. Currently it houses the town hall and Victoria Playhouse.
Directly adjacent to Victoria Hall is Petrolia's Victoria Park, which hosts the annual 'PizzaFest' food festival as a collaboration between the town and their five local pizza restaurants.
The Oil Heritage District Community Centre was opened in Petrolia in 2006. It serves rural and town residents in central Lambton County.
Sports
thumb|Greenwood Recreation Centre
Petrolia is home to a Provincial Junior Hockey League hockey team, the Petrolia Flyers. The town also hosts the Petrolia Squires, a senior hockey team in the Ontario Elite Hockey League. The Squires won the Allan Cup, the senior ice hockey champion trophy of Canada, in 1979 and in 1981.
Media
Until September 2013, The Petrolia Topic was the sole newspaper in the town of Petrolia. It is owned by Osprey Media. In September 2013, The Independent of Petrolia & Central Lambton began publication.
Notable people
- Donald Ferguson Brown, former Canadian politician, barrister, and lawyer
- Jedidiah Goodacre, film actor
- Dale Hunter, retired professional hockey player, and current OHL coach of the London Knights; former head coach of the Washington Capitals
- Dave Hunter, retired professional hockey player who won three Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s
- Mark Hunter, retired professional hockey player and currently co-owner (with brother Dale Hunter), and general manager of the London Knights OHL hockey team
- Michael Leighton, former professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Nashville Predators
- Peter Schiemann, one of the four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables killed in the Mayerthorpe tragedy
- John Van Boxmeer, retired professional hockey player with the Montreal Canadiens who then transitioned to coaching at the professional level in both the NHL and Europe
See also
- List of townships in Ontario
- Petroleum industry