Disappearing cities and boroughs of the Keystone State: Oil City, Pennsylvania

Oil CIty in its prime

From Retiring Guy's postcard collection

Oil City's 2022 estimated population decreased 1.5% since the 2020 census.  Its population is down 57% since its 1930 peak of 22,075.  The city has fewer residents now than it did in 1890.

Source: Wikipedia

Oil City Derrick, 4/23/2019

Original 2/6/2019 post starts here.

Explore Venango, 6/24/2016

While Mayor William Moon said people are moving to Oil City, Councilman Ron Gustafson said he was not encouraged by the statistics and commented that the council needs to show potential residents that the city is cared for by officials. 

“The more we make repairs, the more we clean up and so forth – those are the tasks at hand that we can do,” Gustafson explained. “We have a responsibility here for the functions of the city…and we need to keep making progress there – waterlines, sewers functioning – if we’re going to attract people back.”

Take a closer look, Mayor.

Source:  Wikipedia

Oil City's population peaked at 22,075 in 1930.  Its 2016 estimated population is 10,557 -- a drop of 11,518 (52%).

The City of Oil City is located on the Allegheny River in Venango County, 84 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh and 58 miles northeast of Youngstown, Ohio.  The county's population peaked at 65,328 in 1950 and is currently estimated to be 51,762, a drop of 13,566 (21%).

I grew, from the ages of 8 to 18, 50 miles north of here.

Other disappearing cities and boroughs of the Keystone State
Aliquippa.  (1/12/2019)
Ambridge.  (1/17/2019)
Arnold.  (1/18/2019)
Braddock.  (1/19/2019)
Bradford, (1/20/2019)
Carbondale.  (1/21/2019)
Charleroi.  (1/22/2019)
Chester.  (1/23/2019)
Clairton.  (1/24/2019)
Coraopolis.  (1/25/2019)
Dickson City.  (1/26/2019)
Donora.  (1/27/2019)
Duquesne.  (1/28/2019)
Farrell.  (1/29/2019)
Homestead.  (1/30/2019)
Johnstown.  (1/6/2019)
McKees Rocks.  (1/31/2019)
McKeesport.  (2/1/2019)
Monessen.  (2/2/2019)
Nanticoke.  (2/3/2019)
New Castle.  (2/4/2019)
New Kensington.  (2/5/2019)
Pittsburgh.  (1/13/2019)
Scranton.  (1/14/2019)

Other U.S. disappearing cities:
Baltimore, Maryland.  (12/31/2018)
Benton Harbor, Michigan.  (1/15/2019)
Buffalo, New York, (1/8/2019)
Cairo, Illinois.   (1/5/2019)
Cleveland, Ohio (1/2/2019)
Detroit, Michigan.  (1/1/2019)
East St. Louis, Illinois.  (1/11/2019)
Flint, Michigan.  (1/7/2019)
Gary, Indiana.  (1/4/2019)
St. Louis, Missouri.  (1/2/2019)
Wheeling, West Virginia.  (1/16/2019)
Youngstown, Ohio.  (1/9/2019)