Pennsylvania State...
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Pennsylvania Counties
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Venango County, Pennsylvania
Venango County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Franklin
Year Organized: 1800
Square Miles: 675 |
Court House: 1174 Elk Street
County Courthouse
Franklin, PA 16323-1277
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
Its name comes from the Indian name for French Creek.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Created on March 12, 1800 from parts
of Allegheny and Lycoming Counties. Its name comes from the Indian name for
French Creek. It was attached to Crawford County until April 1, 1805. Franklin,
the county seat, was laid out in 1795 at Fort Franklin, which had been built in
1787 by United States troops. Both were named for Benjamin Franklin. Franklin
was incorporated as a borough on April 14, 1828 and as a city on April 4, 1868.
What is now Franklin was the site of a French fort (1754–1759), a British Army
fort (1760–1763), and the U S. Army's Fort Franklin (1787). The area was
purchased from Indians at Ft Stanwix in 1784 (the "Last Purchase"). The land
west of the Allegheny River was Donation Land intended for Revolutionary army
veterans. The Holland Land Company's titles were disputed by "actual settlers,"
and these cases dissuaded many from moving in to establish farms. Before the
1859 oil boom, pig iron was main the main export product. When Colonel Drake
struck oil, boomtowns arose overnight. Oil City is one that survived, but
Pithole City and others did not. Oil City's oil exchange was a major national
economic player, but it closed in 1909. Refineries and oil equipment manufacture
continued to flourish, and railroads rushed to the oil areas. Bad floods
occurred in 1865, 1883, 1892, 1913, 1926, 1936, 1981, and 1982. A dam that
collapsed above Titusville wiped out much of Oil City in 1892, but it was
rebuilt. Peak population was achieved in 1950: 65,328. Today the refineries are
gone, though some oil well tools are still made. The energy crises of the 1980s
brought renewed attempts to produce more oil, although major amounts were not
forthcoming. Venango is a minor bituminous producer. Farms cover 15 percent of
the county.
Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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- Canal |
township |
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- Cherrytree |
township |
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- Clintonville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Cooperstown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Cornplanter |
township |
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- Cranberry |
township |
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- Emlenton |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Franklin
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Frenchcreek |
township |
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- Mineral |
township |
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- Oil City |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Oil Creek |
township |
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- Oilcreek |
township |
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- Pinegrove |
township |
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- Pleasantville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Polk |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- President |
township |
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- Rouseville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Sandycreek |
township |
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- Scrubgrass |
township |
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- Sugarcreek |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Utica |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Victory |
township |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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Penn Foster High School
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