Well now the ice is broken and the first real glossy photo has been seen of the fab Oil City, maybe we should ask what else is known about it?
There has been a history of flooding due to ice floes that builds dams. The Army Corp of Engineering did some projects to attempt to catch and hold the ice to prevent flooding in Oil City itself. In a flood zone it is always the 100 year or 50 year or 22 year floods that gets you, not the yearly lil deals.
Oil City is smack in the middle of Venango County which also has a history of flashing flooding.
Oil City has a history of being an industrial city and at one time maybe a fairly wealthy place. Hence some better build older structures. Lots of brick everywhere as is also common throughout western PA and eastern Ohio. That region was once home to a major World center of brick making as high quality clay was very cheap and available. For all types of clay products, pottery, brick, tiles, etc, etc. NAH may have an organism when he sees how much brick there is everywhere, including in many places streets made out of brick paving. Brick is common like dirt in the entire region.
The critical flaw being made by our friend NAH maybe in a misunderstand of what is exactly where. A bit of the same problem exhibited in Bluefield, WV.
Yes, there is over a hundred homes for sale. The bulk of those are in very dense areas both north and south of the river. Those areas tend to have houses with extremely small lots, many like .07 acres or something less than .1 acres. Your basic jammed together housing in conjested neighborhoods by modern standards. One critical feature might be the width of streets, difficult to tell without actually being there in person. But it does appear the bulk of the lower priced neighborhoods are very dense. Also difficult to tell if there is lots of elevation changes house to house, street to street.
There are more desirable neighborhoods with larger lots of probably newer homes on both sides of the river. To the north side that would be something like to the east of Oak Road, to the south side of the river that would be west of Innis Street.
Then you get to the critical question what does $50K actually buy you? Yup, something in the older dense neighborhoods. You probably have to go up to ~$70K to start to get the better stuff in the more desirable locations. Same as with Bluefield. To really get a house with some land and not be cheek to jowl with the fellows next door probably well above $100K.
Difficult to determine the exact condition of the housing stock from afar but it does not appear to be too bad. In general not a decaying town.
Like many such towns falling on harder times they try to reinvent themselves into something else. There is a fair sized prison in the general area that is a major employer. So you probably need to understand what factors can allow it to once again have some economic life. Lots of people of Eastern European decent as common thru out Western PA / Eastern Ohio. Lots of roots in the place.
I also think he misunderstands the location and mileage to other places. The actual road miles to bigger cities is probably over 100 miles one way. From my experience you usually want your trips to larger support areas to not be over 50 miles one way. There is basically one way out to get into the major freeway system. If not careful you might have ~250 - 300 miles on the odometer on a resupply trip. Buffalo and Cleveland would be a good day trip.
But all said, I do not see why it could not become Paradise. It should be about like many of the places in Ohio. The county seat or major town in a county serves as the magnet for all the surrounding countryside and acts to provide whatever government services required. If you live close to that center then it is a form of one stop shopping for most things required by the government or paperwork related. If enough general services are available and the place is peaceful enough and you can make a living, about all one can ask in today's World.
The longer this goes, the more I want to take a trip over there myself. It is not that often one gets to see a real Paradise naked and glistening in the sun. Yup might have a very nice fall season too, some parts of western PA are better than New England IMHO. Still that major burning question of Drive or Fly to Paradise.
PA does have auto inspections and is known in Ohio as being a far more regulation orientated state. They like their paper and petty rules.
Whatever food got to be cheaper than in Florida. What is with them folks down there??? It just should not be that expensive to get to Paradise. Does Greyhound go there??? We got to get the real scoop on this place. I suppose one might even be able to do a decent walking tour of the place in a few days. We need some pixs. Our best promise so far is summer. These schedules do have a way of slipping.
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Ice broken on Oil City .......
