In 1800, Irish immigrant Ambrose Rynd purchased a 500-acre tract of land in the Oil Creek from the Holland Land Company, built a cabin on the property, and spent the rest of his life farming it. Nearly 60 years later, his grandson John Rynd II owned the then 300-acre farm when oil fever struck the region. He quickly leased the property to oil prospectors, drilling began in 1861, and the farm proved rich in oil almost at once when the Rynd Well struck and initially produced 500 barrels a day. More flowing wells followed, and by the spring of 1862 the farm had produced 28,000 barrels of oil. In 1864, John Rynd sold the farm to the Rynd Farm Oil Company of New York and moved his family to southwest Pennsylvania. Under new management, drilling and production increased, a village developed on the west side of Oil Creek, and five refiners processed 1,000 barrels of crude oil weekly.