Collection Highlight: Petrolia’s Horse-drawn Ambulance

On March 4, 1920, news of the untimely death of Fred Howlett Junior spread rapidly through the Town of Petrolia. The deceased was a brick and tile manufacturer and an oil producer. He was pulling pumps in an oil field along Dawson Sideroad (Tile Yard Road) with several employees when he was electrocuted by a high tension hydro line carrying 26,000 volts. Medical aid was summoned. Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Duffield arrived from Petrolia. Efforts to resuscitate Howlett were unsuccessful. He was 24 years old and left behind a wife and infant daughter.

The fact that doctors arrived at the oil field in short order to attend the injured man was no surprise. Petrolia had a purpose-built ambulance stationed at Victoria Hall. It served the general population as well as the oil field and refinery workers who often worked in hazardous conditions. The original artwork, Only the beginning, by Maria Gotz, depicts Petrolia’s horse-drawn ambulance travelling through an oil field in the early 1900s. The oil field is studded with three-pole derricks, each marking the location of a producing well.

The ambulance was built by the Petrolia Wagon Company. We estimate that it was completed in 1908 because wagon-maker J.R. Fennell signed the ambulance on July 4, 1908. Outside of the oil industry, the Wagon Company was one of Petrolia’s most important businesses. Established by William Milner in 1902, by 1909 the company employed over 100 men and had an output of 4,000 wagons and 2,000 sleighs per year. Building an ambulance was an anomaly.

Lambton Heritage Museum acquired the ambulance in 1983. Research determined it to be the oldest horse-drawn ambulance in Ontario. For paramedics, it is an important part of their heritage.

In 2009, funds raised by the paramedics of Lambton County EMS, in partnership with Lambton Heritage Museum, were used to bring the ambulance back to its former glory. Grand Bend master boat-builder Skip Izon performed the restoration work using tools and techniques from the early 1900s. Each side panel was replaced and repainted, complete with a red cross. Local artist Teresa Marie Phillips painted the gold lettering. The original side panels were salvaged and framed. One panel remains at Lambton Heritage Museum and the other hangs at the Central Lambton Family Health Team site in Petrolia. The ambulance bell was also returned to working order.

After the restoration was complete the ambulance returned briefly to the streets of Petrolia.  Dignitaries, paramedics, and museum representatives posed with the ambulance behind Victoria Hall. Their positioning recreated the image of the ambulance published in 1909 by the R. Stirrett Company. The ambulance is now part of the permanent collection at Lambton Heritage Museum where it is regularly on display.

Addendum: Only the beginning prints by Maria Gotz are still available. Contact Lambton Heritage Museum for more details.