On April 1, 1863 John Lick, who had come to Bothwell hoping to strike oil, was finally successful. News of the Lick gusher soon spread and the boom was on. Before the oil played out in 1867 Bothwell saw the establishment of several major hotels and entertainment venues, an oil exchange, numerous boarding houses, stores and services. Its population rose to 7000.
In this brief time Bothwell saw all the glamour – and the turmoil – of a true boomtown. And then, as quickly as it started, it was done. Oil output declined, and people moved away. Bothwell eventually settled into the small but mighty community it is today.
Before the Boom
Oil was always present in the Bothwell area. Simcoe's secretary mentioned it in 1793; the Moravians used it for medicine.
But when George Brown, owner of The Globe and future Father of Confederation, bought 4000 acres of Zone Township in 1852, it was its proximity to the Great Western Railway that motivated him. Land was cleared and the town of Bothwell, named after Brown's mother's hometown, was established. It was ready for the rush.
The Aftermath
By early 1867 the Bothwell oil boom was mostly bust. Then, on March 18, disaster struck. About 8:30 p.m. fire was discovered in the livery stable at the Carroll House. Within minutes “bursting sheets of flame" were escaping and by 11:00 p.m. the fire had burned through at least 60 and perhaps 100 buildings. Firemen from Chatham and London arrived on the train about midnight but it was too late. Peter and George Streets were basically no more.
Bothwell the boomtown was gone, ready for the phoenix to birth a more normal and more substantial town that would still be thriving in the 21st century.
