The Oil City Photo Trip - You can ride shotgun (living in, bike)

[Tatianalee]

Hi there. I enjoyed reading your postings from California. My brother lives in Petaluma and he said he will never move back to Pa because he loves the weather in N. California. We live in Greenville PA but used to live in Franklin (8 mis down river from OIl City) and now we want to move back to Franklin. Oil City is rather dreary looking because the buildings are old and has taken a back seat to Franklin's beauty.
There is a lot of rich history in the whole entire area due to the oil boom. There still is a small oil company operating there. John Wilkes Booth who shot Lincoln used to do stage plays in Oil City. My father has a picture of a note that Booth etched on a window pane saying that he would kill Lincoln. Supposedly etched it with a diamond. A few years back in the late 1980's, I found a well preserved nickel on an OC street that was dated 1886.

[Tatianalee]

Hi Kimmy, I'm new to this site so am just now posting.
We used to live in Franklin and are considering moving there again.
Probably you are already moved in your new home in OC?
If so I would love to know if you like the area after living in Florida
My super rich cousin who grew up near OC left yrs ago to live in Miami.
Of course she has a mansion there(she was a model) and doesn't have to live there often as she jet sets around the world. My other middle of the road cousin lived in Florida for 30 some yrs and in 2005 moved back to Meadville PA because he couldn't stand Orlando any more. The crime and the expenses were enormous and he made good money working for Disney. Of course he hasn't got a very good paying job now but he had the sense to buy real estate in Meadville and is doing ok that way.
Eager to see how you view the whole Oc idea, Tatianalee

[mritchey1980]

I've lived in my fair share of places over the years.......PA, NY, TX, SC, Berlin......but the one thing that always stayed constant for me growing up was Oil City. Depending on where I was living, I would spend either every other weekend and/or two months out of the summer there. I have many fond memories of that town. About 5 1/2 yrs ago I decided to move with a cousin of mine to Summerville SC (about 20 miles outside of Charleston). Leaving there at that time I never figured I'd miss that little town. Now having a wife and kids of my own, time and money doesn't allow me to travel back home much at all........I think a total of 3 times in nearly 6 years...........and I tell ya I am so darn homesick any more. I miss the mountains, the snow, the small town enviroment. We're planning on making our way back up there within the next couple years. Thanks for the pics......always good to see "home" again.

[juliegt]

Hi,

I discovered Oil City today in a magazine called The Crafts Report. the city is offering incentives to working artists to relocate to Oil City. I have visited Pittsburgh, PA with the idea of relocating there, so when I saw this ad for a town I had never heard of in PA, I figured I'd look into it. I went to the website, ARTSOilCity, and fould the link to these threads. Thought you might find the website interesting. Is that guy from Florida still thinking of relocating there? Has he already done so?

[mystree]

I don't know if Need Affordable Home moved there or not,he just vanished. But great website Juliegt.

[greekgoddess]

Originally Posted by Deborah53

Yes, the old houses in Oil City are wonderful. The heating billls will be killers. Hope you have a lot of money for restoration.

Now this is just my opinion but I live 17 miles from OC and wouldn't live there. It was a vibrant town 20 years ago. It is a dying dump now. I honestly didn't read all the posts in this forum but somewhere it was said jobs are easy to be had, I don't think that is true. The town is drug infested and the schools have gone down hill steadily.

One thing, housing is affordable to purchase.

Your right Oil city does have a drug problem but we are working on that through the neighborhood watch groups, There is the Northside Association, the Southside Association and the Silvery group, we are all working together to make Oil City a safer and nicer place to live.
Read what we have been doing,
Oil City PA South Side Association!

JOIN US FOR THE NEXT SOUTH SIDE ASSOCIATION MEETING - JANUARY 22, 2008 6:30 PM - FREE METHODIST CHURCH 206 WILSON AVENUE OIL CITY PA - SPEAKER: DETECTIVE MARK BAUGHMAN, FRANKLIN POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL SPEAK ON DRUGS AND DRUG IDENTIFICATION.

I grew up in Cleveland, lived in Oil city when I was 12, moved back to Oil City in 1984 to rise my Daughter here, she was caught up in the drugs here, Now she is off the drugs and working going to college and raising her son. The person who took all the photos, great job, you got part of my home in there, on Pine st. part of the green house next to the yellow house the one with all the garbage on the curb, that house was up for sell by the owners lost the house due to trips to FL not paying the taxes or mortgage. the garbage was from them cleaning house.
You missed the Library by a half of block on west first st, the Jail is across from McDonald's. You did not go up on the hill on the north side to Hasson Heights. There you have seen the ball fields, the new swimming pool the better homes in town. we have 3 grocery stores in town, 2 on the south side one on the hill on the north side.
The North Side group is raising money to fix some homes like the porches and painting for those owners who can not afford to do it. as well raise money to tear down some home. The south side group just got started in June 07, we have now a youth group, senior focus group, as well as starting safe house's. We are working with the Chief of Police on getting training to start block watches in oil city as well.
We are changing Oil City from a dying dump into a much better place to live for our children! Because we care, we can use more people in Oil City to attend these Neighborhood Watch Groups and get involved and do something for your town.
The man that took the photos, next trip to oil city, look me up and I will love to show you Oil City that you missed. IF your here long enough you can attend one of the 3 meeting on the neighborhood watch groups as well. Really get to know the people of OIl City. WE ARE A BLEND OF VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE!
When you read our website look at the mission site, I am the person who wrote the poems.

[lainie]

How wonderful that the folks of Oil City are working together to revitalize the area. I was born in Oil City, grew up on the Southside, graduated from OCHS when it was still situated overlooking the Allegheny, and have many fond memories of a vital and prosperous town. It saddens me to hear that crime and blight have become a problem, but it IS exciting that so many people are working together to make changes.

[HIF]

Originally Posted by greekgoddess

Your right Oil city does have a drug problem but we are working on that through the neighborhood watch groups, There is the Northside Association, the Southside Association and the Silvery group, we are all working together to make Oil City a safer and nicer place to live.
Read what we have been doing,
Oil City PA South Side Association!

JOIN US FOR THE NEXT SOUTH SIDE ASSOCIATION MEETING - JANUARY 22, 2008 6:30 PM - FREE METHODIST CHURCH 206 WILSON AVENUE OIL CITY PA - SPEAKER: DETECTIVE MARK BAUGHMAN, FRANKLIN POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL SPEAK ON DRUGS AND DRUG IDENTIFICATION.

I grew up in Cleveland, lived in Oil city when I was 12, moved back to Oil City in 1984 to rise my Daughter here, she was caught up in the drugs here, Now she is off the drugs and working going to college and raising her son. The person who took all the photos, great job, you got part of my home in there, on Pine st. part of the green house next to the yellow house the one with all the garbage on the curb, that house was up for sell by the owners lost the house due to trips to FL not paying the taxes or mortgage. the garbage was from them cleaning house.
You missed the Library by a half of block on west first st, the Jail is across from McDonald's. You did not go up on the hill on the north side to Hasson Heights. There you have seen the ball fields, the new swimming pool the better homes in town. we have 3 grocery stores in town, 2 on the south side one on the hill on the north side.
The North Side group is raising money to fix some homes like the porches and painting for those owners who can not afford to do it. as well raise money to tear down some home. The south side group just got started in June 07, we have now a youth group, senior focus group, as well as starting safe house's. We are working with the Chief of Police on getting training to start block watches in oil city as well.
We are changing Oil City from a dying dump into a much better place to live for our children! Because we care, we can use more people in Oil City to attend these Neighborhood Watch Groups and get involved and do something for your town.
The man that took the photos, next trip to oil city, look me up and I will love to show you Oil City that you missed. IF your here long enough you can attend one of the 3 meeting on the neighborhood watch groups as well. Really get to know the people of OIl City. WE ARE A BLEND OF VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE!
When you read our website look at the mission site, I am the person who wrote the poems.

Very cool to hear from someone who lives in Oil City. We had quite a lot of laughs about the number of hits your city's website must have gotten during our many, many discussions.

It sounds as though you all have a lot of good things going on that will turn some of the negs around.

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by mystree

I don't know if Need Affordable Home moved there or not,he just vanished. But great website Juliegt.

I *guarantee* you that NAH did not move to Oil City, and most likely did not even visit.
At first I was giving him credit for having a dream and sounding very tenacious about pursuing it. But then his plans got more and more into the realm of absurdity, and it became obvious he had no idea about the real world and would never make it... had absolutely no understanding of winter weather, problems of old, cheap houses, utilities, or anything. And then it turns out he didn't even have the money (or job) to go up there and visit, much less buy a house (or houses) there.
I imagine he will continue living with Mom and Dad in Florida for quite some time.
But, the whole show was entertaining while it lasted.

[kwhitegocubs]

Strangely enough, while NAH has disappeared, his threads have quite enticed me. I am a rare coin expert and currently work in California plying my trade. I am from Illinois originally, and must admit that the smaller town life is calling me back. As coin dealers often travel the country buying and selling coins for days and weeks at a time, I have hatched a plan for my future travels. I have already purchased a house in Rugby, North Dakota (4 bedrooms, 17,500 dollars, not a dying town, Amtrak station, all amenities you could want...even golf and bowling) as my midwest/west hub. The more I've read and seen, I have begun to think OIl City should be my east/southeast/northeast hub.

I didn't pick Rugby by accident, as there are several criteria that have been key in my search for the perfect cheap, rural towns.

First, low crime. Rugby has almost no crime, and no violent crime whatsoever (literally none). Oil City, according to city-data at least, has very low crime - less than a third of the national average in 2006. Drug crimes, as long as they don't become violent or gang-related, are not the largest concern for me. Also, no one has mentioned if the drugs are hard (meth, coke, crack) or just marijuana. That would be good to know.

Second, fairly close to a large city but not in it. Rugby is the primary city in a 30-mile area, but it is 60 miles from Minot, which is a city with 35,000 and has the shops and what-not that most cities of 50 or 60,000 would be lucky to have (since it has to be the primary hub for so many small towns in a 50-mile radius around it). Oil City is near many small to medium sized cities, and of course is near enough to Pittsburgh to reap its benefits on a day trip but not absorb many of its woes.

Scenery and natural setting is another thing I find extraordinarily important. As Oil City is near some National Forests and has abundant hiking (and close enough to the higher portions of the Alleghenies), and I've loved Pennsylvania scenery ever since I was a child and took road trips to and through this area. Rugby is in the northern part of North Dakota and near the Turtle mountains, skiing, several other 9 and 18-hole golf courses, as well as a three-hour drive from Manitoba's Riding Mountain National Park.

Finally, cheap housing. As I wouldn't be overloading the electrical systems with a large family or a great deal of appliances, older systems (and even slightly more ineffecient water heaters) would not be all that detrimental. I've lived in older houses in Illinois and Wisconsin from childhood on, painted old houses and garages, helped my father re-roof our 1930s-era house, done some drywall installation building a room in the basement, etcetera. I'm no expert by any stretch, but I'm not an entire newbie either. Moreover, I am used to (and badly miss) the concept of seasons and snow.

So anyways, I guess all I'm really asking about is: a) are there any truly bad neighborhoods in oil city, and b) what kind of drug-problem is there.

Thanks,

KW