Return to the oil boom era of the 1860s. Follow these signs, and let your mental time machine transport you to the noisy hustle and bustle of Washington and Main streets, the major thoroughfares of boomtown Petroleum Centre.
Petroleum Centre, with over 5000 residents, flourished from 1865 to 1873 on its twin livelihoods of oil and entertainment. Within a few years of its founding, it boasted a theatre, a bank, three churches, 12 dry goods stores, several hotels, livery stables, and an unknown number of brokerage offices, saloons, gambling dives and houses of ill-repute.
Because it was a company-owned town, it had no municipal government, no law enforcement except for the county sheriff, and no sanitation or public works. The famous Coal Oil Johnny said of the town, "For pure, unadulterated wickedness it eclipsed any town. . . For open, flaunted vice and sin, it laid over any other on the map..."
This loop takes about 45 minutes to walk. Walk to
the bridge for Stop 2.
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