by Phil Egan – Special to The Sarnia Journal
(2015) In his 1961 book, A History of the Chemical Industry in Lambton County, R.W. Ford describes the Bushnell Refinery, built in 1871, as the “first of Sarnia’s refineries.”
Records indicate, however, that this information is not correct. Sarnia’s earliest refinery was only one of the business ventures of one of Sarnia’s most amazing citizens. His name was Charles Mackenzie, the younger brother of Alexander Mackenzie, Canada’s second prime minister.
The company, incorporated in the 1860s as the Liverpool Oil Refining Company, was short lived but, like virtually everything that Charles Mackenzie was involved with, eminently successful while it endured.
Charles Mackenzie established the Liverpool Oil Refinery with another brother, John. It was situated on the north side of Exmouth Street.
Following the discovery of “black gold,” as oil quickly became known, in Enniskillen Township in 1858, a private investor constructed a road made of timber planks connecting the massive oil fields at Oil Springs with the rail connection at Wyoming. The route became known as the Oil Heritage Road, now County Road 21.
As refineries sprang up in Petrolia and around the Oil Springs region, the Mackenzie Brothers were determined to compete, shipping in crude from Wyoming by rail to their new refinery. They built their own ship, the schooner Chieftain, and began shipping refined product to England. On January 13, 1862, records indicate that the Chieftain set sail for Liverpool with 1,800 barrels of refined oil.
The Liverpool Oil Refinery’s petroleum product was winning awards by 1863, but disaster loomed on the horizon.
About 6:00 p.m. on the evening of Monday, September 17, 1866, the workmen at the Liverpool Oil Refinery had left work for the day. A night watchman patrolling the grounds was startled to discover a fire raging out of control in the still house. The alarm was immediately sounded, and a number of citizens responded with buckets of water, but the fire began spreading.
Sarnia’s Hook and Ladder Company rushed to the scene, but by the time they arrived, it was clear that the battle was lost and the firemen concentrated their efforts on keeping the fire from spreading beyond the refinery. Their actions managed to save 142 barrels of crude and 190 barrels of refined oil were saved, but the losses were catastrophic. The refinery was completely destroyed, along with 200 barrels of refined oil, 1,000 barrels of crude, and $15,000 worth of machinery.
Sadly, the loss was uninsured.
According to subsequent newspaper reports, Sarnia Township Council responded to the tragedy by remitting half the taxes the refinery had paid, and in August of 1869 the company was taken over by a new venture called the Boston Oil Company. It was managed by a Captain Eddy and a Mr. Nickels, who soon had the refinery back on its feet with a capacity of 600 barrels a week.
The Boston Oil Company had ambitious plans for growth, but by June of 1870, the company was no longer in business in Sarnia.
The city would wait nearly 20 years for its next great refinery.