The museum is located on the site where James Miller Williams dug the first commercial oil well on the continent in 1858.

[1][2] The museum's property, and the lands surrounding it were designated as the "First Commercial Oil Field National Historic Site of Canada" in 1925.

[4][5] In 1957, a panel made up of members of the Lambton County Historical Society and the Oil Springs Centennial Committee developed plans for a $100,000 Museum that would preserve the site of the first commercial well and tell the stories of the oldest oil-producing area in North America.

[7][8] Lieutenant- Governor John Keiller MacKay hosted the museum's opening ceremony, noting that "we should hold an enduring reverence and respect for the pioneers, who laid the foundations for the oil development in this area.

[10] The outside exhibits include Canadian drilling rigs, a demonstration of the jerker line pumping system, a nineteenth century oil wagon and original buildings from the boom period.