Pioneer Oil Refinery

The Pioneer Oil Refinery was the first successful oil refinery in California, built in 1876. The Pioneer Oil Refinery was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.172) on March 6, 1935, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. The Pioneer Oil Refinery is located is in what is now Newhall, Santa Clarita, California in Los Angeles County at 23864 Pine Street. Pioneer Oil Refinery is the oldest existing refinery in the world. The Lang Southern Pacific Station railroad line served the Pioneer Oil Refinery.

Pioneer Oil Refinery
Pioneer Oil Refinery in 1880
LocationNewhall, Santa Clarita, California
Coordinates34°22′12″N 118°31′11″W
Built1876
DesignatedMarch 6, 1935
Reference no.172
DesignatedDecember 11, 2020
Reference no.100005942
Location of Pioneer Oil Refinery in Santa Clarita
Pioneer Oil Refinery (the Los Angeles metropolitan area)
Pioneer Oil Refinery (California)
Pioneer Oil Refinery

Pioneer Oil Refinery was built by California Star Oil Works, that became part of Standard Oil of California and then part of Chevron. Chevron still owns the Pioneer Oil Refinery land. Chevron has plans on the table to restore the site. Some of the original parts of the refinery were taken away after it closed in 1884, some to museums and other parts to private collectors. The large kettles used to refine the crude oil in to kerosene and benzene are still on the site, along with an old wooden drill tower. Chevron still give some tours of the site.[1] [2]

Marker

Marker on the site reads:[3]

  • "NO. 172 PIONEER OIL REFINERY - In 1875 the Star Oil Company, one of the predecessors of the Standard Oil Company of California, drilled its first Pico Canyon well, which yielded about one hundred barrels per day. The discovery resulted in the erection of the first commercial oil refinery in California the following year."
  • Pioneer Oil Refinery is also listed on the sites of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks as site No. 8.

See also

References
  1. Cal, Parks Marker, 172, Pioneer Oil Refinery
  2. Revered Refinery : Landmark: Preservationists like Pioneer Oil because of its historical significance. LA Times, Others like it because, as one said, ‘it’s old and it doesn’t work.’ , By STEVE PADILLA, Dec. 23, 1990
  3. https://www.californiahistoricallandmarks.com/landmarks/chl-172
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