Dr. Gesner's Kerosene: The Start of American Oil Refining

Accounts of the “birth of the petroleum industry” traditionally have emphasized the discovery and exploitation of early oil fields. Equally important, however, was the growth of a market for the production of those fields. Little information has hitherto been available about Dr. Abraham Gesner and his Kerosene Works. Here was one of the significant origin points for a major industrial development. Gesner's story, interesting in itself, contributes greatly to an understanding of all phases of the early petroleum industry.