Venango County, Pennsylvania

Venango County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 50,454. Its county seat is Franklin. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1805. The county is part of the Northwest Pennsylvania region of the state.
Venango County comprises the Oil City, PA micropolitan statistical area. It is part of the Pittsburgh and Erie media markets.

History

Venango County was created on March 12, 1800, from parts of Allegheny and Lycoming Counties. The name "Venango" is derived from the Native American name of the region, Onenge, meaning Otter. This was corrupted in English as the Venango River. The settlement at its mouth was likewise called Venango, which since March 3, 1871, has been the South Side of Oil City. Venango County was home to an oil boom in the years following discovery of natural oil in the mid-1850s.
George Bissell, a Yale University chemistry professor, and Edwin L. Drake, a former railroad conductor, made the first successful use of a drilling rig on August 28, 1859, near Titusville. This single well soon exceeded the entire cumulative oil output of Europe since the 1650s. Within weeks, oil derricks were erected all over the area. Other oil boom towns located in Venango County included Franklin, Oil City, and the now defunct Pithole City. The principal product of the oil was kerosene.
McClintocksville was a small community in Cornplanter Township in Venango County. In 1861, it was the location of Wamsutta Oil Refinery, the first business venture of Henry Huttleston Rogers, who became a leading United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. Rogers and his young wife Abbie Palmer Gifford Rogers lived in a one-room shack there along Oil Creek for several years beginning in 1862.
After joining Standard Oil, Rogers invested heavily in various industries, including copper, steel, mining, and railways. The Virginian Railway is widely considered his final life's achievement. Rogers amassed a great fortune, estimated at over $100 million, and became one of the wealthiest men in the United States. He was also a generous philanthropist, providing many public works for his hometown of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and financially assisting helping such notables as Mark Twain, Helen Keller, and Dr. Booker T. Washington.
A little girl named Ida M. Tarbell, whose father was an independent producer whose small business was ruined by the South Improvement Company scheme of 1871 and the conglomerate which became Standard Oil. Introduced to each other in 1902 by their mutual friend Twain, Tarbell, who had become an investigative journalist and Rogers, who knew of her work, shared meetings and information over a two-year period which led to her epoch work, The History of the Standard Oil Company, published in 1904, which many historians feel helped fuel public sentiment against the giant company and helped lead to the court-ordered break-up of it in 1911.
The oil heritage of Venango County is commemorated by a Pennsylvania State Park and many heritage sites which help tell the story and memorialize the people of the oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. Venango County is one of the 423 counties served by the Appalachian Regional Commission, and it is identified as part of the "Midlands" by Colin Woodard in his book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America.
French Creek is formed near French Creek, New York and extends for a length of with a drainage area of. It joins the Allegheny River near Franklin. The watershed area includes parts of Erie, Crawford, Venango, and Mercer Counties in Pennsylvania as well as Chautauqua County, New York.

Adjacent counties

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 50,454 and a median age of 47.4 years. 20.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 23.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 97.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 95.7 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 47,117 White, 434 Black or African American, 68 Native American, 172 Asian, 10 Pacific Islander, 2,076 Other/Mixed, and 577 Hispanic or Latino residents of any race.
43.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 56.1% lived in rural areas.
There were 21,506 households in the county, of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 47.5% were married-couple households, 19.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 25.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 26,156 housing units, of which 17.8% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 74.7% were owner-occupied and 25.3% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.7%.

Race / Ethnicity	Pop 2000	Pop 2010		% 2000	% 2010
White alone	56,016	53,052	47,117	97.30%	96.48%	93.38%
Black or African American alone	614	567	434	1.06%	1.03%	0.86%
Native American or Alaska Native alone	99	81	68	0.17%	0.14%	0.13%
Asian alone	131	196	172	0.22%	0.35%	0.34%
Pacific Islander alone	11	10	10	0.01%	0.01%	0.01%
Other race alone	37	18	96	0.06%	0.03%	0.19%
Mixed race or Multiracial	359	582	1,980	0.62%	1.05%	3.92%
Hispanic or Latino	298	478	577	0.51%	0.86%	1.14%
Total	57,565	54,984	50,454	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 57,565 people, 22,747 households, and 15,922 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 26,904 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 97.64% White, 1.09% Black or African American, 0.18% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. 0.52% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 43.9% English or Welsh, 12.5% were of German, 11.1% American, 9.9% Irish, 8.3% Scotch-Irish, 2.8% Dutch, 2.1% Italian, and 1.6% French ancestry.
There were 22,747 households, out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.80% were married couples living together, 9.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.00% were non-families. 26.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.20% under the age of 18, 7.20% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 25.10% from 45 to 64, and 16.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 95.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.10 males.

Micropolitan Statistical Area

The United States Office of Management and Budget has designated Venango County as the Oil City, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area . As of the 2010 U.S. census the micropolitan area ranked 9th most populous in the State of Pennsylvania and the 182nd most populous in the United States with a population of 54,984.

Law and government

Voter registration

As of February 21, 2022, there are 32,319 registered voters in Venango County

Democratic: 9,181
Republican: 18,864
Independent: 2,868
Third Party: 1,406
County Commissioners

State Senate

State House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

United States Senate

Economy

Major employers

Pennzoil and Quaker State left the Venango area for Texas. After leaving the area they merged and stopped refining oil. They now concentrate on retail oil and automotive additives produced for them by other companies. As of 2007, the two companies only exist as brand names after the company disappeared because of successive mergers.
With global crude oil prices touching US$100 in early 2008, long-dormant interest reawakened in Venango County's remaining oil reserves, 70% undrilled by one estimate. High prices make less accessible oil deposits worth extracting. For instance, a Canadian firm proposed drilling several large mines and allowing oil to flood the tunnels.

Education

Public school districts include:

These public school districts are only partially in Venango County:

Colleges and universities: