A group of hastily constructed buildings stand in a line along a primitive road in front of a field full of oil derricks.

Credit: From Sketches in Crude Oil, 1896 courtesy the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

Red-Hot, shown hear as it appeared in 1870, was typical of oil towns of the era in that it sprang up almost overnight with the discovery of oil, and disappeared almost as quickly when the wells failed to produce consistently.