West River Drive north of Columbia Bridge, Philadelphia PA
© Jane Mork Gibson,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
The Belmont Petroleum
Refinery (1865)—sometimes called the Belmont Oil
Works - was one of the first oil refineries in America
and was built to capitalize on the discovery of oil wells
in western Pennsylvania in 1859. This refinery operated
for less than four years, and its very existence was in
all probability a major argument for the extension of
Fairmount Park on the west bank of the Schuylkill River.
The original owners of the land in 1684 were John Boelsen
and Jan Schoeten (also Skutton), and a building known as
the Boelsen Cottage is on the site. Later Judge
Peters of Belmont Mansion owned the property, and in 1864
six acres of the Peters Estate was sold to Joseph
Newhouse of Philadelphia by Joseph Lovering, trustee for
the Peters estate. Newhouse then in 1865 formed a
consortium of Philadelphia merchants who invested in the
project, including Simon Arnold, Ernest Nusbaum and Isaac
Bernheimer. It is presumed that at this time
construction at the site was undertaken, as indicated in
the Hexamer General Survey #18 (1866), "Belmont
Petroleum Refinery, Newhouse Nusbaum &
Co." 1
The Hexamer General Survey provides information about the
buildings and facilities in the complex. At the center
was a three-story rubble stone building that was a
Treating House. At the southeast corner of this building
was a small Engine House with an underground steam line
running south to the Receiving House. A waste pipe ran
from the Receiving House to the river. There was a
Stillhouse divided into ten sections and with a large
steam boiler. Ten cooling tubs were north of the
Stillhouse. Near the Receiving House were six
underground receiving tanks. A one-story stone office
building was north of the Treating House and a Cooper
Shop west of it. The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad
lines ran along the rear of the property so that it was
possible to have a siding, or “Factories
Railway” within the complex. Two Crude Oil Tanks
for deliveries and a Bonded Warehouse for sales were
located along the siding. Also to the rear were the
Benzine House containing two tanks and the
“Storehouse for Residuim.,” “Dwelling
Houses for Operatives” and a “Stable”
completed the complex.
The City of Philadelphia obtained the major part of its
drinking water from the Schuylkill River in the 1860s,
with pumping stations located downstream from the site of
the Belmont Petroleum Refinery. Refining of petroleum had
become a sizable business in 1866 when nearly two million
gallons were refined in Philadelphia, at locations
principally on the Schuylkill River. 2
There was a
natural concern that the city water supply should be
protected from contamination from industrial
waste. Hexamer General Survey #62 (1866) "Park Oil
Works, Jas. J. Brook." 3
—a
smaller operation located at 38th and Girard, the site
of the present-day eastbound Girard Avenue exit from
the Schuylkill Expressway—specifically stated
that oil waste was discharged into the stream passing
through the property, which of course flowed down to
the Schuylkill. This method of disposing of refinery
waste was evident at Belmont, and the impending growth
of the refining industry threatened the water supply.
The Hexamer General Survey map for the Park Oil
Refinery also gives a clue on the activity in the
Treating House which contained “Agitator, Oil
Pumps, Steam Engine & open Settling
Tank.”
Following the establishment of Fairmount Park, the city
purchased the six acre complex for $80,000 on June 8,
1870. The buildings were then used to house the
administrative offices of the Fairmount Park Commission
until 1974, when the Park offices were moved to Memorial
Hall. Being unoccupied and with maintenance neglected,
the buildings deteriorated. In 1986 and 1987, the workers
housing and warehouses were demolished, and in 1989 the
Treatment House and the Cooper Shop were leveled. What
remains are the Boelsen Cottage, the Stable built in the
1930s by the W.P.A. on the site of the Stillhouse and
Receiving House, and the foundations of some of the
buildings. However, the underground industrial archeology
contains a record of the 1865 process of oil refining and
is probably intact. After the establishment of Fairmount
Park, oil processing facilities came to be located
further down the Schuylkill, where there is no danger of
polluting the water supply or of impinging on park land.
1 The Hexamer General
Survey covered a time period of c.1866-95. The low number
of the survey (No. 18) indicates that it was made soon
after 1866. [Editor's note: the date is confirmed as
1866].
2 Edwin T.
Freedley, Philadelphia
and its Manufactures, p. 432.
3 The low number
indicates the date is soon after 1866.
Update May
2007 (by
Jane Mork Gibson):
When the city bought the Belmont Petroleum Refinery in
1870, after the establishment of Fairmount Park, it had
only been in operation for four years. Some have
speculated that the facility had been established in 1866
on land that was known to become parkland so that a
profit could be made when it was sold to the city; the
purchase price was $80,000. The Main Administrative
Offices of the Fairmount Park Commission and the
Engineering Office were housed in the Treatment House for
eighty-one years, from 1893 to1974. The park offices were
moved to Memorial Hall, which had been renovated in the
1960s, and the Treatment House was abandoned. The three
workers’ houses, occupied by park employees, were
demolished in 1986-1987. The Treatment House and the
Cooper House were taken down in 1989. Today there is no
indication that the oil refinery buildings were ever
there. The Hexamer General Surveys list the Belmont
Petroleum Refinery as No.18.