Venango County, Pennsylvania
| Venango County, Pennsylvania | ||
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Venango County Courthouse
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 Location in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania |
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 Pennsylvania's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | September 1, 1805 | |
| Seat | Franklin | |
| Largest city | Oil City | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 683 sq mi (1,769 km2) | |
| • Land | 674 sq mi (1,746 km2) | |
| • Water | 8.6 sq mi (22 km2), 1.3% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 53,119 | |
| • Density | 79/sq mi (31/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 5th | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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Venango County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,984. Its county seat is Franklin. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1805.
Venango County comprises the Oil City, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is defined as part of the Pittsburgh media market.
Venango County was created on March 12, 1800 from parts of Allegheny and Lycoming Counties. The name "Venango" comes 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, and is the site of present-day South Side of Oil City, Pennsylvania.
Venango County was home to an oil boom in the years following discovery of natural oil (petroleum) 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, Pennsylvania. (Although Titusville is in Crawford County, the first oil well was drilled outside of town, less than a mile inside of the Venango County boundary.) 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.
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