Oil fanned Fairview’s growth
At the height of the oil boom craze that spread through Butler County during the mid-19th century, the rapidly growing Fairview borough was described as “one of the most reckless spots in all Pennsylvania.”
In the neighboring borough of Petrolia, 20th century historian Robert C. Brown approximated, “there probably were more saloons than all other business houses put together.”
In the pages of the leather-bound and weatherworn “History of Butler County” published in 1895, Brown looked back on Fairview’s success in prior decades, noting the oil frenzy’s impact on economic growth and culture in the region.
“The oil men came to change all the quiet and happiness of forty years’ growth into a cauldron, boiling with excitement, hope, disappointment, pleasure, joy and sorrow,” Brown wrote in his manuscripts. “A mania for boring through the earth seemed to have taken possession of young and old, merchant and tradesman.”
Incorporated in Fairview Township in 1866, the borough grew from a mere settlement at the turn of the century into a village, along with Petrolia, Buena Vista, Argyle, Angelica and Haysville.
In an article written more than 30 years ago, Eagle staff writer Emily Tipping described Fairview as a “long-vanished oil town.”
The borough — along with some of Fairview Township’s other villages — is described as a relic of the former oil boom.
According to “An Historical Gazetteer of Butler County, PA,” Argyle was eventually incorporated by Petrolia, while “Angelica and Iron City are now mostly memories.”
As the production of oil decreased, the village of Haysville — which stood where the former Union Oil Company boasted 97 producers — was ultimately deserted, Brown stated.
Fairview Township was formed from Donegal Township in 1846. Rudolph Born first explored the region from Westmoreland County, but brothers John and Samuel Wallace are recorded as the area’s first pioneers in the Native American territory.
“The early settlers of this township were of the sturdy type that gave promise of future excellence,” James A. McKee wrote in manuscripts compiled in “20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, PA and Representative Citizens” in 1909.
In the early days of Fairview Township’s development, McKee stated a lack of roads posed a challenge for settlers, who lived far away from each other, to socialize and make purchases in town.
Settlements grew into villages, with Fairview borough, Petrolia and Haysville earning reputations as “great oil centers,” McKee wrote.
Records of Fairview date back to 1826 when James McElwee opened a grocery store; four years later, two farmers, Thomas McCleary and Jacob Hock, “laid out the village on parts of their towns,” according to “An Historical Gazetteer …” The village saw further growth after a foundry was established in 1844.
The borough is noted by multiple sources as having been one of the first towns in the country to use natural gas for lighting and domestic tasks.
From a village of 200 inhabitants in 1870, Fairview’s population more than tripled six years later, when 1,000 residents lived in the borough, McKee wrote.
Hotels and businesses sprung up as the oil industry in and around town swelled, but the borough sustained “heavy losses” as the oil supply decreased, he stated.
McKee wrote that the area also bore witness to a number of devastating fires.
In 1872, the Jameson oil well caught fire, destroying the rig, which subsequently impacted its supply of oil. In 1873, a fire at business owner and former postmaster Robert Patton’s clothing store destroyed the business. Four years later, Patton’s wife was killed in a gas explosion that also destroyed their home.
Following the oil boom’s decline in the latter part of the 19th century, Fairview’s workers weremostly comprised of farmers and business owners, McKee wrote.
He stated that descendants of the pioneer days still lived in the area toward the beginning of the 20th century.
According to the 2020 Census, Fairview Township’s population stood at 1,940 residents, while approximately 180 residents lived in Fairview borough.
