The collection of is showcased along with a wide range of antiques that have either musical or local significance. Lighting is provided by the DeBences' collection of over 40 Tiffany-style hanging lamps. Many of the instruments in the collection are very rare. The Berry-Wood A.O.W.
Venango
Venango County encompasses 675 square miles and includes the cities of Oil City and Franklin, nine boroughs, and 20 townships. The County seat is in the City of Franklin at 1168 Liberty Street.
Venango County has a rich, colorful history that dates back to the early American settlers. The county was established in 1800, and the current courthouse was built in 1865. Many of today's Venango County property owners can trace their land titles back to the original deeds granted to their ancestors for military service to their country in the Revolutionary War.
Franklin was chosen as the county seat late in the eighteenth century because of its excellent strategic location amongst several trading posts and forts. Oil City first became a settlement in 1818 when Cornplanter, a Seneca chief, sold the site to William Connelly and William Kinnear.
The industrial age of Venango County started in 1825 when iron ore was discovered in the area. Within the next twenty years, more than two dozen stone blast furnaces shot up throughout the county. Many of them, including Rockland Furnace, below Freedom Falls, Webster Furnace, located on Bear Run in Rockland Township, and the Anderson and Oil Creek Furnaces, still stand as testimony to one of the industries that transformed the area.
Venango County has the prestigious designation as one of the four heritage regions in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Steeped in oil history, the Oil Heritage Region, the "valley that changed the world" by discovering crude oil, is now formally recognized.
Ambitious plans have been set in motion to reeducate the world on the birthplace of oil and its rich heritage. Bicycling or hiking throughout various locations in the region or visiting the different museums for interpretive understandings of the area when oil was king will be a long-remembered visit by those experiencing the Oil Heritage Region.
On August 28, 1859, the birth of the oil industry took place when Edwin L. Drake drilled the world's first oil well in Titusville. This lone wooden derrick soon led to a booming industry in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Only ten years after Drake's initial discovery, American oil was used worldwide.
Museums
This Museum's mission is to preserve and conserve its holdings and the beautiful Beaux Arts building it occupies, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
1910 was a prosperous year for Franklin and included the building of the National Guard Armory overlooking French Creek.
Organizations
The vision of the theater is to provide expanding opportunities for quality programming and entertainment for a broad-based audience while maintaining financial stability.In 1959 a group of six energetic and brave citizens, interested in improving the cultural status of the Franklin Area and to e