Venango

Formed March 12, 1800 (35^th county)

Venango County (50,455), Franklin (6,082), Oil City (9,613)

The excellent red brick Italianate courthouse was built in 1868 and remodeled in 1932.  The courthouse is on Liberty Street at 12^th Street.  United States Highway 62 is Liberty Street in this part of town.  Sloan and Hutton are the building designers.  An Annex augments the courthouse.  The county was created on March 12, 1800 from Allegheny and Lycoming counties as the 35^th county with Franklin as the only county seat.  The county name is derived from a Native American word for “otter.”  Franklin is named for American statesman Benjamin Franklin.  He is also the namesake of Franklin County. 

Venango County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Three Common Pleas Court Judges and Three Magistrate Court Judges serve Venango County.  Venango County is in northwest Pennsylvania.  Erie, Pennsylvania is north and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is south of the county.  The Allegheny River flows through the county.  The county center is 5.1 miles East of Franklin nearer Seneca.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Crawford, Warren, Forest, Clarion, Butler, and Mercer counties. 

The area of the county is 683 square miles.  It is 33 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 44 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 73.9 persons per square mile making it 45 out of 67 in the state.  Venango County has 48.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 80 comes into the county from the south, Butler County, the west, Mercer County.  United States Highway 62 enters from Forest County, east, and exits into Mercer County, west.  United States Highway 322 travels southeast to northwest from Clarion County to Mercer County.  The county shape could be described as a fat small letter r.  Franklin is located in the western third of the county.  Oil City is near the center of the county.  Franklin is the county seat and Oil City is the largest city.  Franklin is 12.1% of the county population while Oil City is 19.1% of the county population.  The county is pronounced VE-NAN-GOE.  This county is in the Oil City Micropolitan Statistical Area.