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STATE HISTORICAL MARKERS
~ VENANGO COUNTY ~


DENSMORE TANK CARS - This marker was dedicated October 15, 2004 and is located on US Route 8 just south of Titusville near the Cross Creek Golf Resort.

The first functional railway oil tank car was built in 1865 at nearby Miller farm along Oil Creek. Named after its inventors, James and Amos Densmore, it consisted of two wooden tanks placed on a flat railway car, each tank holding 40 – 45 barrels of crude oil. A successful test shipment was sent in September 1865 to New York City. By 1866, hundreds of tank cars were in use. The Densmore Tank Car revolutionized the bulk transportation of crude oil to market.

According to an article from The News Herald – February 23, 2005 – Prior to the Densmore invention, oil was packaged into individual barrels and then loaded onto open-topped freight cars. The system evolved into an elongated tank that resembles today’s rail cars used for shipping liquid.



Donated by Penny Haylett Minnick
pictures Penny Haylett Minnick