Remarkable Ohio

Serpent Mound Marker

Home / Allen County / 2-5 Faurot Oil Well [2]

ALERT: This marker was inadvertently given a non-Allen County number, 2-5. There is another #2-5 in Athens County, 'Albany.'

Title, side A
Faurot Oil Well
Text, side A
In 1885, 800 feet north of this marker, Benjamin Faurot struck oil after drilling into the Trenton Rock Limestone formation at a depth of 1,251 feet. This event marked the beginning of the great Oil Boom of northwest Ohio. The ensuing rush brought speculators who drilled hundreds of wells in the Trenton Rock (Lima) Oil Field that stretched from Mercer County north through Wood County in Ohio and west to Indiana. By 1886, the Lima field was the nation's leading producer of oil, and by the following year it was considered to be the largest in the world. Production from the Ohio portion of the Lima-Indiana field reached its peak in 1896, when more than 20 million barrels were brought out of the ground. Though short-lived, the oil rush brought an influx of people, pipelines, refineries, and businesses, giving a powerful impetus to the growth of northwest Ohio.
Address
Just E of 835 E. North Street
Lima, OH 45801
Location
Between 835 E. North Street and the Ottawa River Bridge
Coordinates
Latitude: 40.7427470, Longitude: -84.0930860.
Google map: