The village, an enclave within Enniskillen Township, is the site of North America's first commercial oil well.

Before the village was formed, the indigenous people already knew about the gum beds and used the sticky oil to waterproof their canoes.

[5] Within a few years, Oil Springs was a bustling town with four thousand residents and in its peak days boasted paved roads, horse-drawn buses and street lamps.

He also invented the jerker line, a method used to pump oil to the surface from multiple wells using a shared steam engine.

[2][6] On January 16, 1862, John Shaw using a springboard to chip through rock, created Canada's first oil gusher (located on Gypsie Flats Road).