The Oil City Photo Trip - You can ride shotgun (Pittsburgh: low crime, appliances) - Pennsylvania (PA) - Page 17 - City-Data Forum

J-Man · 07-09-2007, 01:20 PM

I was just in Oil City a few weeks ago. It is a damn mess! The town is literally falling apart at the seams, Old, decaying buildings, empty storefronts downtown, and a messy, decaying, infrastructure. The houses are also falling apart. I went and located the houses of some relatives of mine (who had lived there decades ago). It's a good thing these relatives aren't alive to see what has become of their old places. It's awfully sad.

There is a reason that the cost of living is so low in Oil City. No one has any money to afford things anyway! It was once actually a prosperous town with the oil industry and several rich families. Those days are long gone. It's now a decaying, dying town with mostly old folks.

On the other hand, Franklin (the city right next to it) is the exact opposite in terms of appearence. Franklin is very impressive in how it keeps itself up. The downtown probably looks better than the downtown in 90 percent of Pennsylvania small towns. It's vibrant, neat, doesn't have empty storefronts, has a nice theatre, restaurants, and a very active arts and activities culture that keeps people coming downtown for events. It's clean and handsome and will make you smile to see it.

But you look at the downtown of Oil City and compare it to Franklin and you couldn't find two places that look more opposite.

Kimmiec · 07-09-2007, 03:12 PM

Hi guys,
I just read a few posted emails about Oil City. What part of Oily City is a mess? My husband just bought a house on w. first street.(South Side) I did not have a chance to really see the area. I did visit a few friends back in December 2006 but unfortunately it was at night and it was only once. I do love the pictures of the house my husband just bought. The size of the house is perfect for our growing family. I did have some concerns after I saw a few pictures of the town. My husband is trying to re-assure me that the South side is nicer. We are from Florida and we have streets where some houses are really nice and next to a nice house you will see a fixer upper. I hope the street we just bought on is the same and that I wont be disappointed. Well its already a done deal, I just want to know what I am walking into when I see the area for the first time in day light. I was told that they are trying to fix up the community little by little and businesses are starting to donate money or materials to help fix it up.

On another note... we didn't know any realtors in the area so we just used the same realtor that the seller had. Our firends that now own a house in Oil City used this Realtor and said he is trust worthy. Well when this realtor faxed us all the paper work, we noticed it had a check mark(wavier) in the Radon area. My husband and I really weren't too concerned because the people who are selling the house had lived there for 13 or more years. Should we have it checked anyway. If there is radon then we will have to pay 1,200.00 to fix the problem. Whats your thought on this?

I am so glad there are people out there that are nice enough to answer some of my concerns. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Kimmiec

Kimmiec · 07-09-2007, 07:58 PM

Hi Johnm8114
Thanks for the information on the furnaces. I was told that they put all new furnaces in three years ago. How long do those usually last? I can't wait to go to the apple Festival. My mother in law gave me a recipe for killer home made apple pie that we haven't had in some time now.

Kimmiec · 07-13-2007, 09:46 AM

Does anyone every read these forum?

johnm8114 · 08-06-2007, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmiec

Hi Johnm8114
Thanks for the information on the furnaces. I was told that they put all new furnaces in three years ago. How long do those usually last? I can't wait to go to the apple Festival. My mother in law gave me a recipe for killer home made apple pie that we haven't had in some time now.

Furnaces tend to last quite awhile. Hopefully they picked an energy efficient one.

johnm8114 · 08-06-2007, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmiec

Hi guys,
I just read a few posted emails about Oil City. What part of Oily City is a mess? My husband just bought a house on w. first street.(South Side) I did not have a chance to really see the area. I did visit a few friends back in December 2006 but unfortunately it was at night and it was only once. I do love the pictures of the house my husband just bought. The size of the house is perfect for our growing family. I did have some concerns after I saw a few pictures of the town. My husband is trying to re-assure me that the South side is nicer. We are from Florida and we have streets where some houses are really nice and next to a nice house you will see a fixer upper. I hope the street we just bought on is the same and that I wont be disappointed. Well its already a done deal, I just want to know what I am walking into when I see the area for the first time in day light. I was told that they are trying to fix up the community little by little and businesses are starting to donate money or materials to help fix it up.

Personally, I like that part of town. You would be fairly close to the small shopping area there and the post office and Library and YMCA. There are mixed sizes and conditions of homes in that part of town. Some of the B&B's are not far from there either, in some spectacularly renovated homes. I noticed some very nice (from an architectural point of view, not condition) set of mission/Arts&Crafts style row homes there too. I think there is some real potential.

I have heard a few people make comparisons to Franklin. My perspective is that Franklin, being much smaller, has been very successful at focusing it's town resources and efforts to the key, small business district. They have done a truly out of the ordinary job at organizing various events to attract regional tourists and visitors. They seem to have strong zoning and planning, and they respect their town's historic buildings with reasonably strong zoning.

That being said, Oil City has a a much larger town to work with, which is actually a challenge more than an asset. Oil City has *great* potential to become a regional tourist spot as well, and should be taking some cues from Franklin. I suspect they have been slow to adapt to the loss of the Oil Industry, which dominated every aspect of the town economy for generations. They should consider some more "Oil Heritage" related tourism, and related parks, much like Drake Oil Well Museum. They have very nice rivers and Oil Creek for nature related features. And the historic housing stock is fantastic. Much like Pittsburgh with its decimated steel industry, I feel Oil City is also suffering from a lack of confidence and experience in industry outside of it's historic framework.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmiec

On another note... we didn't know any realtors in the area so we just used the same realtor that the seller had. Our firends that now own a house in Oil City used this Realtor and said he is trust worthy. Well when this realtor faxed us all the paper work, we noticed it had a check mark(wavier) in the Radon area. My husband and I really weren't too concerned because the people who are selling the house had lived there for 13 or more years. Should we have it checked anyway. If there is radon then we will have to pay 1,200.00 to fix the problem. Whats your thought on this?

Absolutely get it tested! I have seem people have buys get radon test only to discover they lived in the home years without knowing there was a radon problem. (Which can come and go as well, with changes in water table levels, etc.) The test is not so much, and remediation is not so much a cost as an opportunity to "buy" a some health if you find radon.

When do you move?

Deborah53 · 08-08-2007, 05:41 PM

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.

PennsylTexan · 08-08-2007, 08:11 PM

Ah, yes, the Barkeyville (RT 8) exit off of I-80. Brings back memories of my undergrad education/alcohol tolerance experiments at the Rock.

grewupinoilcity · 08-17-2007, 06:46 PM

Wow, I can't believe what I am seeing. My uncle and I installed the railings that are pictured on that porch. We also replaced ceilings. This was back in the 70's. I've been gone from the area since 89' and my uncle passed awayyears ago. We cut and hand carved the ends of each piece for a tight custom fit. It was not a pre-fab kit.

Summering · 08-18-2007, 04:50 PM

You did a great job. I love seeing the towns of Pennsylvania.
The homes, the main streets, all the stores.
When someone asks about a town, its so nice to direct them to your photos along with SWB's.
One day I will take my lousy camera and take some photos just to add to this wonderful photo touring.
Not that I know how to put them on here ??????? I don't...
Possiably from photobucket? Hummm, I will have to ask questions.
Thank you for showing us some towns I have never been to, but have heard of from so many.