DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because this one starts with a couple of men chasing water and ends up changing the shape of Texas forever. The American Well and Prospecting Company was organized in Kansas in 1890 — two partners, two different states they called home.
Horace Greeley Johnston, born in 1851, hailed from Ohio. Charles Rittersbacher, born in 1857, was a Pennsylvania native. Between them, they had an idea simple enough: drill for water.
That was the whole plan. Find it, sell it, move on. Nothing fancy.
Now, if you'd told either of those men what was actually waiting underground, well — they might have drilled a little faster. In 1891, the partners pulled up stakes and moved the operation to Texas, settling in Corsicana. They kept at the water well business, turning the drill bit day after day.
Then came 1894. They were working a site on South 12th Street when something came up the bore that was decidedly not water. Crude oil.
Right there in Corsicana. That strike led to the discovery of the Corsicana oil field — one of the great early finds in the state of Texas, touched off by two men who were simply looking for a drink. The company didn't stop turning once the oil was out.
By 1900, they had shifted into making and distributing rotary drilling equipment — the very tools that would help the next generation go hunting for what Johnston and Rittersbacher had stumbled onto. The business kept moving with the times. When World War II arrived, the plant was converted to munitions production.
After the war, the company was sold to Bethlehem Steel, which operated at that same Corsicana site all the way until 1959. A water well company. That's what they set out to build.
And what they left behind was the foundation of an oil legacy that still runs deep in Texas soil.
What the marker says
Organized in Kansas in 1890 by Horace Greeley Johnston (1851-1930) of Ohio and Pennsylvania native Charles Rittersbacher (1857-1919). This company began as a water well drilling business. In 1891 the partners moved to Texas and began drilling in Corsicana. In 1894, while drilling on S. 12th street, they struck crude oil, which led to the discovery of the Corsicana oil field. The firm began making and distributing rotary drilling equipment in 1900. Converted to a munitions plant in World War II, the business was sold to Bethlehem Steel and operated at this site until 1959. (1982)