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STATE HISTORICAL MARKERS
~ VENANGO COUNTY ~

JOSEPH REID GAS ENGINE COMPANY This marker was dedicated October 10, 1997 and is located at the intersection of Main Street (PA 8), Halyday Street and Petroleum Street in Oil City.

Founded in Oil City, 1894, it produced engines for pumping oil wells. Its popular single piston engine was used worldwide by the oil industry. The company closed in 1939.

Joseph Reid, born November 11, 1843, at Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland, came to America in 1862. Working in both Canada and the eastern United States, he continued with his ambition to become an engineer. After working for the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in Meadville, he arrived in Oil City and worked for W. J. Innis & Co. and later with Malcolmson & Patterson, the latter of which he purchased and began his own business. The first locomotive built in Oil City was constructed in his plant in 1882. A mechanical genius, he made extensive experiments to replace the steam engine with a gas engine for drilling and cleaning out oil wells. For the first time, this gave the producers the ability to pump wells right in the oil fields. The Reid Company had two sites - the plant where the pumping power units were fashioned at the corner of Elm and Duncomb and the Main Street plant where the engines were built.
Joseph Reid was married to Agnes Hanna, who died in 1871 and second to Ruth Staples who died in 1904. Mr. Reid died at his home on Orange Street, Oil City, October 23, 1917 and was laid to rest in Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA.

At the dedication ceremony, four refurbished and working Joseph Reid gas engines were provided by members of the Pennsylvania Steam and Gas Engine Society of Saegertown.

Donated by Penny Haylett Minnick
pictures Penny Haylett Minnick