Venango Museum of Art, Science and Industry

Built in 1906 as a post office, the building housing the Museum has an architectural style recognized as Beaux Arts. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is located within Oil City’s historic north-side business district. The Museum collects, preserves and exhibits artifacts and related material relevant to interests of Venango County residents and visitors. Through a changing exhibit area, the Museum strives to provide a quality educational and cultural experience for visitors of all ages.

Exhibits

Our main exhibit area “Oil: Black Gold or Black Magic?” is where visitors are encouraged to learn and discover how it all started in Venango County with Pennsylvania rock oil, the lifeblood of the infant oil industry. Known as black gold, this magical fluid made fortunes and transformed forever our everyday lives, global economics, politics, and the environment itself.

Our brand-new exhibit for 2022 is OUR PENNZOIL STORY! Experience over a century of the Pennzoil company here in Venango County as part of the Museum's new OUR PENNZOIL STORY exhibit. Discover how three men forever altered the history of our community when they purchased ten acres of the old Clapp Farm on Oil Creek, between Titusville and Oil City. The Museum houses a large collection of Pennzoil company artifacts and archival materials and much of it will be on display in our changing exhibit area and industrial hall.

Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.