Venango County, Pennsylvania

Venango County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 57,565. Its is.

History
Venango County was created on, from parts of  and  Counties. The origination of the name "Venago" comes from as it was known to of the region as Onenge, meaning Otter. This was corrupted into English as the Venango River. The settlement at its mouth was likewise called Venango, and is the site of present-day.

Venango County was home to an boom in the years following discovery of natural oil  in the mid 1850s.

, a Chemistry professor, and, a former railroad conductor, made the first successful use of a drilling rig on ,  at. This single well soon exceeded the entire cumulative oil output of since the. The principal product of the oil was.

was a small community in in Venango County. In, it was the location of , the first business venture of , who became a leading , , , , and. Rogers and his young wife lived in a one room shack there along Oil Creek for several years beginning in.

Shortly later, Rogers met oil pioneer who purchased the entire output of the tiny. In, Rogers joined Pratt in forming , which was purchased by in. Rogers became one of the key men in ’s Trust.

After joining Standard Oil, Rogers invested heavily in various industries, including copper, steel, mining, and railways. The 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, providing many public works for his hometown of and financially assisting helping such notables as , , and.

Perhaps in one of history's ironies, another resident of Venango County about the same time as Henry and Abbie Rogers was a little girl named, 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 by their mutual friend Mark Twain, Tarbell who had become an  and Rogers, who knew of her work, shared meetings and information over a two year period which led to her epoch work, , published in, which many historians feel helped fuel public sentiment against the giant company and helped lead to the court-ordered  break-up of it in.

The oil heritage of Venanago County is remembered 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, the county has a total area of 1,769 (683 ). 1,748 km² (675 sq mi) of it is land and 21 km² (8 sq mi) of it (1.17%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * (north)
 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (south)
 * (west)

Significant Topographic features
is formed near and extends for a length of 117 miles (188 km) with a drainage area of 1,270 square miles (3,289 km²). It joins the Allegheny River near. The watershed area includes parts of, , , and Counties in Pennsylvania as well as.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 57,565 people, 22,747 households, and 15,922 families residing in the county. The was 33/km² (85/sq mi). There were 26,904 housing units at an average density of 15/km² (40/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.64%, 1.09% or , 0.18% , 0.23% , 0.02% , 0.17% from , and 0.67% from two or more races. 0.52% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 22,747 households out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.80% were 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.

In the, voters registered in Venango County cast 9,024 (38.1%) ballots for Kerry, 14,472 (61.2%) for Bush, and 163 (0.7%) for "other".

Municipalities
Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities:, , townships, and, in at most two cases,. The following cities, boroughs and townships are located in Venango County:

Census-designated places
s are geographical areas designated by the for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. Other communities, such as villages, may be listed here as well.

Major employers
Pennzoil and Quaker State left the Venango area for Texas. After leaving the area they merged and stopped refining oil. The now concentrate on retail oil and automotive additives produced for them by other companies. The two companies now (2007) only exist as brand names after the conmpany disappeared because of successive mergers. Other major employers are Government (at all levels) and Walmart.

Partial districts
These public school districts are only partially in Venango County: