Oil City South Side District

Welcome to Oil City, PA - a city with a unique history whose story spans hundreds of years!

This tour will provide you with an overview of Oil City - from its three historic districts, collection of church buildings, remnants of its industrial past, to its numerous examples of Victorian style residential architecture. You will learn about the oil boom that helped shape Oil CIty into the place it is today. During the tour, you will see impressive architecture, stately civic buildings, magnificent houses of worship, former company headquarter buildings, and much more. While the Tour covers a lot of ground, there are still opportunities for you to further explore in Oil City! We invite you to stay as long as you need and rest as often as possible at a few of our great local businesses.

This tour is based on the Oil Heritage Alliance Oil City Walking and Driving Tour. The mission of the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry & Tourism is to manage the Oil Region National Heritage Area and to increase the prosperity of the Oil Region by enticing people to live, work, learn, and play in "the Valley that Changed the World" through the preservation, promotion, development, and support of historical, educational, natural, recreational, residential, commercial, and industrial destinations. This tour was adapted by members of the Venango Leadership Academy 2023-24 class, which is a program held annually by the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce. Additional points of interest were added based on local public input.