Kier Refinery

Kier Refinery is a Pennsylvania historical marker in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, dedicated 1959.

small park near Chatham/Bigelow Sq., betw. Bigelow Blvd. & 7th Ave., Pittsburgh

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Using a five-barrel still, Samuel M. Kier erected on this site about 1854 the first commercial refinery to produce illuminating oil from petroleum. He used crude oil from salt wells at Tarentum.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1848 · Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1855 · The cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, with parts of adjacent boroughs, Pennsylvania /… (Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library)
1872 · Allegheny, Washington, Greene counties. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1872 · Westmoreland, Fayette counties. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1873 · Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall counties. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Allegheny, Washington, Greene counties, 1872, covering the location of Kier Refinery, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Allegheny, Washington, Greene counties, 1872, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

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