To understand the importance of the oil discovery, key milestones have been determined by Robert O. Cochrane and Charles O. Fairbank. The Heritage Community Foundation thanks the authors for permission to reprint the timeline from the Oil Heritage Tour of Lambton County: The Birthplace of the Canadian Oil Industry booklet.
| 1819 |
Birth of Queen Victoria |
| 1833 |
Completion of Survey of Enniskillen Township |
| 1837 |
Queen Victoria suceeds George IV to British throne |
| 1842 |
Creation of the Geological Survey of Canada |
| 1846 |
Dr. Abraham Gesner produces kerosene oil from coal |
| 1849 |
Creation of the County of Lambton |
| 1849 |
Start of Great Western Railway from Niagara Falls to Windsor |
| 1853 |
Lambton becomes an independent County |
| 1854 |
C.N. Tripp founds International Mining and Manufacturing Company (IMMC) |
| 1854 |
Dr. A. Gesner obtains US letter patents to produce kerosene from crude oil |
| 1855 |
Sale of IMMC to James Miller Williams |
| 1858 |
James Miller Williams produces oil from dug wells in Oil Springs |
| 1858 |
Opening of Great Western Railway between Sarnia and London |
| 1859 |
Col. E.L. Drake drills an oilwell at Titusville, Pennsylvania, USA |
| 1861 |
J.H. Fairbank arrives in Oil Springs |
| 1861 to 1865 |
American Civil War |
| 1862 |
Hugh Nixon Shaw's oil gusher in Oil Springs |
| 1866 |
Captain B. King discovers oil in Petrolia |
| 1866 |
Founding of Oilwell Supply Company |
| 1866 |
Building of Railway Spur Line from Wyoming to Petrolia |
| 1866 |
Town of Petrolia incoporated as a village |
| 1866 |
Discovery of oil at Oil Springs, Texas, USA |
| 1867 |
Confederation of Canada |
| 1868 |
Opening of Van Tuyl & Fairbanks |
| 1869 |
Opening of Little Red Bank by Vaughn & Fairbanks |
| 1871 |
World's first Oil Exchange at Vaughn & Fairbank |
| 1874 |
Departure of first Foreign Drillers from Petrolia |
| 1880 |
Sixteen companies form Imperial Oil Company in London |
| 1885 |
Last spike driven on CPR Railway |
| 1888 |
Construction of Victorian Playhouse |
| 1890 |
Construction of 'Sunnyside', home of J.H. Fairbank |
| 1898 |
Imperial Oil Refinery moves to Sarnia |
| 1898 |
Rockefeller's Standard Oil trust acquires control of Imperial Oil |
| 1901 |
Formation of Canadian Oil Refining Company |
| 1901 |
Spindletop Oil Discovery in Texas, USA |
| 1901 |
Death of Queen Victoria |
| 1903 |
Construction of Fitzgerald Pumping Rig |
| 1904 |
Discovery of Natural Gas in Medicine Hat, Alberta |
| 1910 |
Discovery of Oil in Turner Valley, Alberta |
| 1914 to 1918 |
World War One |
| 1914 |
Opening of Baines Machine Shop |
| 1930 |
Discovery of East Texas Oilfield, USA |
| 1939 to 1945 |
World War Two |
| 1942 |
Establishment of Polymer Corp. to make Synthetic Rubber |
| 1942 |
Down Plant in Sarnia to make Polystyrene |
| 1947 |
Discovery of Oil in Leduc, Alberta |
| 1952 |
Canadian Oil moves from Petrolia to Corunna |
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