1859: American investors hired Edwin Drake to use salt mining techniques to drill at the source of a natural kerosene seep in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The resulting oil well was 69.5 feet deep and produced 15 barrels per day.

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1870: John D. Rockefeller consolidated several small oil production and refining businesses into one – Standard Oil Company – and cut a deal with railroad companies to transport the oil at reduced prices, thereby creating a monopoly that put small oil companies out of business.

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1901: Ransome Eli Olds designed the first mass produced car with a gasoline-powered engine. His Detroit, Michigan plant turned out 425 “Curved Dash Olds.”

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1905: Clem Lessing and Harry Grenner opened the first gas station in St. Louis, Missouri.

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1911: President William Howard Taft instructed the U.S. Naval fleet to switch from coal to petroleum as the fuel source.

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1930: Self-proclaimed geologist Columbus Marion Joiner discovered the East Texas Oil Field, one of the largest deposits in the United States.

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1956: President Eisenhower's signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act into law. The nation-wide highway system was originally built to ensure troop mobility in response to the Cold War, but it also contributed to America’s emerging “highway culture.” America embraced this culture with enthusiasm and built roadside motels, drive-in movies, fast food restaurants, and banks.

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1973: OPEC limited the supply of oil for sale, dramatically raising prices.
In 1973, the United States supported Israel in the Arab-Israeli war. In response, OPEC (an organization comprised primarily of Arab states) embargoed oil, effectively doubling crude oil prices.

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1991: President George H.W. Bush authorized the first drawdown the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to stabilize world oil markets during the Gulf War.

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2001: For the first time, Car and Driver reported a truck, the Ford F-Series, as the top-selling vehicle in America.

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2006: Price of a barrel of oil reached and exceeded $70.

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