Straddling Crawford, Venango, and Warren Counties in northwestern Pennsylvania, Titusville was founded by surveyor and land agent Jonathan Titus in 1796. Most of Titusville's growth stemmed from the completion of the world's first successful commercially drilled oil well by Edwin L. Drake and William A. Smith in August 1859; but petroleum was not the only major factor in the town's economy. Significant developments in agriculture, steel production, boiler and radiator manufacturing, defense and aerospace-related contracting, plastics, textiles, and cutlery manufacturing have also taken place in Oil Creek Valley.