Venango County, Pennsylvania

Venango County is located in northwest Pennsylvania.
It was founded in 1880.
The name Venango comes from a Native American word for French Creek.

Population: 57,565 (2000)

Land Area: 676 square miles

Venango County is part of the Appalachian Plateau also known as the Allegheny Plateau. The Allegheny River makes a deep cut valley through the county with many deep valley tributaries. French Creek flows into the Allegheny River in Franklin which is the County Seat. Eight miles up river Oil Creek flows into the Allegheny in Oil City which is the largest municipality in the county. Venango County is bordered to the north by Crawford County and Warren County; to the east by Forest County; to the southeast by Clarion County; to the south by Butler County; and to the west by Mercer County.

The area is rich in oil history and there are still many gas and oil wells throughout the county. There has also been a lot of coal and some limestone mining in the southern part of the county. Much of the early industry was tied into the oil business and coal minining and its many offshoots. Venango County has been hard hit economically in the last 25 to 30 years with a lot of places closing down or relocating.

One of the major draws to Venango Co. is tourism. There are a few museums, the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad and Oil Creek State Park which was based primarily on the history of the Oil Creek Valley. There are dozens of Victorian homes in Oil City, Franklin and other surrounding communities of northwest PA. Hunters and fisherman come from all over the region for deer, wild turkey, trout season and more.

Cities and boroughs:

• Barkeyville, PA
• Clintonville, PA
• Cooperstown, PA
• Cranberry, PA
• Emlenton, PA
• Franklin, PA
• Kennerdell, PA
• Oil City, PA
• Pleasantville, PA
• Polk, PA
• Reno, PA
• Rouseville, PA
• Seneca, PA
• Utica, PA
• Van, PA

Townships:

• Allegheny Twp.
• Canal Twp.
• Cherry Tree Twp.
• Clinton Twp.
• Cornplanter Twp.
• Cranberry Twp.
• Frenchcreek Twp.
• Irwin Twp.
• Jackson Twp.
• Mineral Twp.
• Oakland Twp.
• Oil Creek Twp.
• Pine Grove Twp.
• Plum Twp.
• President Twp.
• Richland Twp.
• Rockland Twp.
• Sandycreek Twp.
• Scrubgrass Twp.
• Victory Twp.

Sources:Venango County History (http://www.rootsweb.com/~pavenang/mischi01.htm)
Description of the Geology of Venango County Pennsylvania (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/emsl/guides/X/venango.htm)
Venango County (http://www.ruralpa.org/2002profiles/venango.html)