The City of Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania recently prepared a Downtown Economic Development Strategy.  Oil City is located at the doorstep of Pennsylvania Allegheny National Forest Region with spectacular frontage on the Allegheny River and an industrial heritage that is unique among the Northeast states.  Its downtown serves as the gateway to "the valley that changed the world," the birthplace of the oil industry where John D. Rockefeller once had his offices. 

This strategic planning project was conducted with the help of Fairweather Consulting Group and Shepstone Management Company.  Reports and other project documents may be reviewed at this website.  Most material is published in the PDF format which requires the Adobe Reader program.  If you do not have Adobe Reader you can easily obtain it for free by going to the Adobe website.  Simply click on the button below:

FOR A COPY OF THE COMPLETE PLAN, CLICK HERE

A public meeting to review preliminary recommendations from the Downtown Economic Development Strategy was held on Wednesday evening, July 27, 2005, at the Christ Episcopal Church Hall in Oil City.  A presentation of recommendations and the themes that form their foundation was made by consultants Peter Fairweather and Tom Shepstone.

Two large group meetings were held on March 2 and 3, 2005 with business and community leaders as well as other stakeholders.  Several ideas regarding downtown Oil City's assets, liabilities and future opportunities were generated by those present.  A summary of the input received is available here.  Consultants Peter Fairweather and Tom Shepstone set the stage for these discussions with presentations regarding Oil City's Economic Future and Second Home and Tourism Trends.  Market research data was also discussed.  Summary data can be obtained using the following links:

Market Profile and Retail Marketplace Data

Retail Spending Overview 

A kickoff meeting with the project steering committee was held on January 20, 2005.  Consultant Peter Fairweather made a presentation regarding Oil City & Its Potential Economic Sources of Economic Vitality, a copy of which can be downloaded by clicking here or on the photo below.  This presentation is an earlier version of the Oil City's Economic Future presentation discussed above.

Part of the January presentation was a dissemination of some preliminary data on the Oil City market, looking at key demographics for market areas defined by driving times of 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 60 minutes from Oil City.  Additional data on retail spending in general was offered at the March stakeholder meetings.  More detailed data required for evaluation of restaurant sites, recreational businesses and housing potential can be purchased from ESRI - Business Information Solutions.  If you have questions please contact:

Shepstone Management Company
100 Fourth Street
Honesdale, PA 18431



To download the basic market data, CLICK HERE.