[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 94 (Monday, June 3, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H3563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  EDWIN L. DRAKE POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 7417) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 135 West Spring Street in Titusville, Pennsylvania, 
as the ``Edwin L. Drake Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7417

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. EDWIN L. DRAKE POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 135 West Spring Street in Titusville, 
     Pennsylvania, shall be known and designated as the ``Edwin L. 
     Drake Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Edwin L. Drake Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill would designate the post office facility 
located at 135 West Spring Street in Titusville, Pennsylvania, as the 
Edwin Drake Post Office Building.
  Born March 29 in 1819, Edwin Drake was the first person to 
successfully drill for oil in the United States.
  Drake was sent to Titusville on behalf of the Pennsylvania Rock Oil 
Company, where oil had been gathering from ground-level seepages. He 
said: There must be a way to somehow get to more volume. The answer 
was, send Drake.
  In an attempt to lure local Titusville businesses into investing, the 
executives sent letters to local businessmen and referred to Drake as 
Colonel Drake.
  In July of 1858, he journeyed to Titusville to begin but struggled 
for nearly a year until he invented the drive pipe. He continued his 
attempts with many setbacks and refusal from the oil company to provide 
any more investment.
  Now, despite many of these failed attempts and the shortage of money, 
he persisted in his efforts, leading some of the locals and executives 
to begin calling him Crazy Drake.
  Finally, on August 27 of 1859, he found success in extracting oil, 
which was 70 feet beneath the Earth's surface. It had never been done 
before. Quickly, his well began to produce between 20 and 40 barrels a 
day, and they ended up using all the whiskey barrels in Titusville to 
put the oil in.
  This immediately launched the Pennsylvania oil rush, sparking a 
massive economic boom in western Pennsylvania. Drake's discovery 
changed the economies beyond western Pennsylvania and across the world.
  Titusville quickly became a boomtown, and oil wells popped up all 
over the place. It is reported that these wells produced up to 4,500 
barrels in just the first year. By 1866, the population of Titusville 
had risen to over 10,000 residents, compared to just 250 people when 
Drake first arrived.
  By 1873, Pennsylvania was producing 10 million barrels of oil per 
year, an incredible amount that nobody could have possibly imagined. 
Drake would dig two other wells in the months following his invention, 
but he left the industry the next year due to his declining health, and 
he became a justice of the peace in 1860.
  Unfortunately, Drake never patented his invention, and he lost most 
of his savings in the stock market in the following years.
  Pennsylvania, though, would never be the same, as people rushed to 
the Commonwealth, much like the gold rush of California.
  Drake passed away in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on November 9, 1880, at 
just 61 years old. He was moved to Titusville, where he remains today. 
The original tools are on display in Titusville at the Drake Well 
Museum, on the same site as his initial discovery.

                              {time}  1600

  Oil continues to be a massive industry in Pennsylvania and across our 
country.
  By naming a post office after him in Titusville, this would be a 
small step in recognizing the man who made it all possible. I urge my 
colleagues to support this bill to recognize Edwin Drake's contribution 
to the country by naming the post office facility in Titusville after 
him.
  Mr. Speaker, Drake died broke. He had nothing, but he created an 
industry in America, in Pennsylvania, that has continued to flourish. I 
would urge my colleagues to please support the naming of the post 
office for Edwin Drake.
  Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am rising in support of H.R. 7417.
  Edwin Drake, as we just heard, was born in New York and lived for a 
short period in New Haven, Connecticut, until he moved to Pennsylvania 
to develop a site and drill for oil. His efforts to strike an oil 
deposit in Titusville on August 27, 1859, helped create an oil rush and 
economic boom in Pennsylvania.
  Drake, remembered as the first person to successfully drill for oil 
in the United States, passed away in Bethlehem in 1880. I encourage my 
colleagues to join all of us in honoring the life of Mr. Drake by 
naming a post office in Titusville after him.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, that was a great story. Glad I am on the 
House floor today to hear it.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my House colleagues to support the bill 
honoring a great American, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Meuser). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7417.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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