Olinda Oil Museum
Step back into time as you take a self-guided tour across 12 acres of local history. The discovery of oil in this area played a hefty role in the development of Orange County. In 1897, Santa Fe Oil Company drilled the first well here, this same well still pumps oil to this day. Soon after, many more oil wells sprang up and the oilfields here became very successful. In 1899, Santa Fe Railroad added a stop here in the new town known as Olinda and by the 1920's, 3,000 people lived here to work in the oilfields. At its peak, there were 250 oil wells spread out over about just 2 square miles, pumping almost 3 million barrels of oil per year.
Eventually, the people that lived in the town of Olinda would spread out and live in the more attractive suburban neighborhoods that began to sprout up across Orange County. Other factors that caused the town to die out were major flooding and developing technology which meant that not as many jobs were needed to operate the wells. The boomtown known as Olinda once had over 700 hundred homes and buildings as well as once of the richest school districts in Orange County but all that remains now are just a few structures and a handful of oil wells which are still operating.
This museum is part of the state park system which preserves the history and allows visitors to come learn about it. This site also features a 4 mile loop trail which takes you to several other operating oil wells scattered throughout the hills and offers amazing views of Orange County and Catalina Island. The original oil field office was built in 1912 and now serves as the museum which you can enter and has a docent to show you around.
For more info, visit their website
4025 E Santa Fe Rd
Brea, CA 92823