Edwin Laurentine "Colonel" Drake (1819-1880), an American oil driller, is popularly credited with having "discovered" oil.
On August 27, 1859, a well that Drake built near Titusville, Pennsylvania struck oil. While petroleum oil was known prior to this, it was not available in large enough quantities to be very useful.
According to Ida Tarbell's 1904 book The History of Standard Oil, the oil well was not Drake's idea, but rather that of his employer, George Bissell.
Bissell sent Drake to the site in the spring of 1858. Drake, a native of Greene County, New York, had spent his earlier life working as a clerk, an express agent, and a railway conductor. After initial difficulty locating the necessary parts to build the well, which resulted in his well being nicknamed "Drake's Folly," Drake proved successful.
Others claims to be the first well (that isn't the point). No one is likely to question the fact that it was the Drake Well at Titusville which started the industry on its spectacular career. Within a day, other men were constructing their own oil wells nearby, and the result was the birth of the petroleum industry.
