The first settlement on the site of Venango Borough was made by Philip Straw as
early as 1797.  The village was known as Strawville. John Lasher and Solomon Walters
purchased his [sic] improvement in 1817, and anticipating the location of a turnpike
through the place, laid out a village plot.  Their expectations, however, were not
realized.

In 1819 Mr. Walters sold his interest to Michael Peiffer, who in company with
Jacob Sherritz soon after built a saw-mill.  This, together with the mill privilege
and eighteen acres of land, was bought in 1829 by Asa Freeman, and in 1832 John
Kleckner, who had removed from Lycoming County the year previous, purchased the
mill property and a farm near by.  He built a new sawmill in 1832, and repaired
the old one.  In 1844 he erected a grist-mill, and operated the mills for many
years.  In 1838 he had the village plot surveyed, and named it Klecknerville; it
was changed to Venango when the borough was incorporated.  The earliest residents
of the village were John Bender, a blacksmith; John Lasher, farmer; George Thomas,
a shoemaker; Isaac F. Clark and Josephus Herriott, cabinet-makers, all of whom had
settled here prior to 1840.  Reynolds and May, of Erie, were the first merchants,
and Philip Kleckner in 1840 opened the first tavern, where now stands the Venango
House.  From 1840 to about 1860 the village grew steadily.  Its development has
since been slower.

Venango was incorporated in the spring of 1852.  Its first officers were: Isaac
Peiffer, Burgess; Jacob Kepler, John Kleckner, Anthony W. Mumford and Charles P.
Penoyer, Council; John Peiffer, Treasurer; John W. Coulter, Collector; George Lasher,
High Constable.  Isaac Peiffer was re-elected Burgess in 1853, and his successors
have been: Joseph Blystone, 1854; George Kleckner, 1855-56; S. W. Kepler 1857; John
Bender, 1858; H. J. Logan, 1859; William L. Apple, 1860; William P. Floyd, 1861; A.
W. Mumford, 1862; Isaac F. Clark, 1863; William P. Floyd, 1864; W. H. Dibble, 1865-66;
J. C. Giddings, 1867; Adam L. Braden, 1868; J. C. Giddings, 1869; A. L. Braden, 1870;
Joseph Blystone, 1871; George C. Straw, 1872; C. Bender, 1873; Samuel Clark, 1874;
J. J. Whipple, 1875; J. C. Harris, 1876; George  C. Straw, 1877; H. J,
Brookhouser, 1878; Joseph Blystone, 1879; Robert Clark, 1880; W. I. Blystone, 1881-82;
Jonathan Sherred, 1883.

The borough contained in 1870 a population of 313, in 1880, 347.  It now has two general
stores, a grocery, a hardware store, a drug store and a furniture store, two physicians,
three hotels, a fine school building, three churches and four societies, Benhart & Straws
cigar box factory, Blystone & Georges grist-mill, Brookhouser & Shellhamers saw-mill, and
Sherred & Giddings cheese box factory, a wagon shop, two blacksmith shops, three shoe shops,
a harness shop and a cooper shop.

A log schoolhouse was built about 1820 near the southeast corner of Church and South
Streets, where the parsonage of Zion Lutheran Church now stands.  Charles Fletcher and
John and Evan George were its early teachers.  The next schoolhouse was a one-story frame
erected about a mile west of the village and the present brick structure was built in 1857
at a cost of $1,350.  It is two stories in height and contains four apartments, only two
of which are now in use.

The oldest religious society of Venango Borough is Zion Evangelical Lutheran, General
Council, Church.  It was organized by Rev. Colson with fourteen members in 1816.  Revs.
Frederick Hoyer, Muckenhoupt, Moyerhoffer, Shultz and Straw were early pastors.  Among
the earliest members were: Peter Saeger, Frederick Zerns, Andrew and Michael Sherred,
John Stokes and John and Michael Peiffer.  A round-log-church was built in 1816 on the
site of the present schoolhouse, but was not completed.  Services were held in it during
the summers and in the schoolhouse during winters until the winter of 1838-39, when a
large frame structure was reared.  It was occupied until 1879 when the present frame
church, 36x50, was erected on the same lot, on the east side of Church Street, south of
South Street, at a cost of $2,500.  Rev. Elihu Rathbun was serving this charge as early
as 1831; he was subsequently elected pastor in 1837.  Rev. Henry Zigler became pastor in
1847; J. D. Nunemacher in 1851; Henry Weichsel in 1855; I. J. Delo in 1858, and subsequently
Revs. J. H. Smith, P. Doehr, George Gaumer and E. Creesman.  The latter was installed in
October, 1881, and is now serving.  The membership is about thirty.

The First Evangelical Lutheran Church, General Synod, was formed in 1875 with sixty-two
members, who had previously been connected with Zion Church.  Its handsome frame edifice
was erected in 1877 at a cost, including lot on the east side of Meadville Street, of
$3,500.  The first officers were: Dr. M. L. Faulkner and John Muckenhoupt, Elders, and
David Good and H. J. Brookhouser, Deacons.  The present officers are: D. S. Lasher and C.
Bender, Elders, and R. F. Brookhouser and Christian Hornaman, Deacons.  Rev. I. J. Delo
was called in 1876 and remained in charge until March, 1880.  His successor, Rev. Eli
Miller, the present Pastor, assumed the duties of the pastorate July 1, 1880.  The present
membership is 100.

Venango Methodist Episcopal Church was organized about 1842, by Rev. Ahab Keller, of
Cambridge Circuit.  The original class scarcely numbered a dozen, and included Joseph L.
Perkins and wife, Jacob Wood and wife, Mrs. John Peiffer, Miss Delilah Mumford, John
Terrell, Nicholas Peiffer and Benjamin Hays and wife.  The first meetings were held in
the old schoolhouse, situated about a mile west of the village, afterward in the Lutheran
Church until the winter of 1846-47, when the present frame church, located on the west
side of Church Street, opposite South, was erected at a cost of $12,200.  The society
now numbers forty-eight members.  It is connected with Cambridge Circuit.

Venango Lodge, No. 298, K. of P., was chartered June 7, 1871.  The following names appear
on the charter: G. D. Ackerly, J. C. Harris, Arthur McClosky, John Quay, H. M. Bole, A.
Logan, H. D. Persons, W. H. Dibble and Solomon Coup.  The membership is ninety-six, and
meetings are held every Wednesday evening.

Venango Valley Lodge, No. 45, A. O. U. W., was instituted February 7, 1873.  Its charter
officers were: M. L. Faulkner, P. M. W.; N. F. Peiffer, M. W.; G. C. Straw, G. F.; A. L.
Lasher, O.; J. Blystone, Recorder; William H. Dibble, Financier; G. W. Kleckner, Receiver;
A. Torry, G.; M. P. Barrett, I. W.; Frank N. Kleckner, O. W.  The membership is now thirty,
and the regular meetings are held every Friday evening.

French Creek Lodge, No. 476, I. O. O. F., was chartered February 28, 1876, with the
following officers: W. S. Skelton, N. G.; G. D. Humes, V. G.; I. J. Delo, Secretary;
Joseph Blystone, Assistant Secretary; Isaac Peiffer, Treasurer.  Meetings are held every
Tuesday evening, and the membership is forty-four. Sylvia - Lodge, No. 122, Daughters of
Rebekah, was chartered March 31, 1879, but regular meetings are no longer held.

Myrtle Union, No. 311, E. A. U., was instituted May 9, 1881, with thirty-eight members.
Its charter officers were: J. H. Marcy, Chancellor; D. S. Lasher, Advocate; Isaac Peiffer,
President; Mrs. Sarah S. Lutz, Vice-President; Mrs. Maria S. Skelton, Auxiliary; David
Gibson, Treasurer; M. M. Tuttle, Secretary; A. D. Foskit, Accountant; Mrs. Mary E. Faulkner,
Chaplain; A. T. Zimmer, Warden; Mrs. Sophia Peiffer, Sentinel; J. L Skelton, Watchman.
The membership has slightly increased, and meetings are held on the second and fourth
Mondays of each month.