Oil City

Oil City, city (1990 pop. 11,949), Venango co., NW Pa., on the Allegheny River; inc. 1871. The city was founded after Edwin L. Drake struck (1859) oil nearby in Titusville. It was a refining and shipping center for the state's oil industry and a producer of oil-field equipment until the last of the oil companies left the city in the mid-1990s. Manufactures include continuous-casting equipment, plastics, aluminum castings, motor oil, machinery, antioxidants, and steel tubing.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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