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Check out the new marker at the highway entrance to the Roberts Trailhead Visitor Center for the Westmoreland Heritage Trail on Route 22! This eye-catching sculpture combines Murrysville’s historic gas well with bicycles for the new trail.
The Gas derrick is featured in the municipality’s logo because of the historical significance of the Haymaker Well. The Haymaker Well, located a half mile down the trail, is the site of the first commercial gas well in the world, known as Haymaker #1, This well site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1878, brothers Michael and Obediah Haymaker drilled in Murrysville hoping to discover oil but instead found gas 1,460 feet below the ground.
In 1881, the gas accidentally caught fire and burned for a year and a half visible to all from as far as downtown Pittsburgh.