The Settlement of Knapp Creek, formerly known as Knapps Creek, was a genuine boomtown in the early days of the Bradford Oil Field, beginning about 1877. It was on a narrow gauge railroad and later an electric street car line. The town boasted a bank, a drugstore, two bottling works, over a dozen saloons, and many other businesses including a Chinese laundry. Knapp Creek is the birthplace of aviation pioneer William T. Piper, known as "The Henry Ford of Aviation".