My Afternoon in Emlenton

Emlenton from the sky

The PA Great Lakes Region is made up of four counties. At the furthest southeast point of this region, in the very corner of Venango County, is the Borough of Emlenton. I had read a bit about the heritage of this small municipality, so decided to take a quick trip, and while the town is made up of less than 750 residents, that didn’t prevent it from being an intriguing place to spend an afternoon.

The drive is one of the most exciting parts, lots of hills and valleys, and while you can't tell by these pictures, plenty of cows.

As I made my way into the historic district of the borough, I parked at the Emlenton Mill. Built in 1875, the mill was one of the first steam powered grist mills in the United States. Later converted to gas and then electricity, the Emlenton Mill was in operation for over 100 years. However, today, the mill has a different function, acting as the Emlenton Hotel; the Emlenton Mill Antiques shop; The Craft Mill (which hosts art classes); and The Emlenton Creamery (ice cream and coffee shop).

The entrance to the museum, which unfortunately, was closed on this day.

On this day, the coffee house was the only thing open, so I went in, took a seat with a beverage and looked out at the Allegheny River, which runs the entire length of the town and serves as the border between Venango and Clarion counties.

Sitting down near me were some local folks and I struck up a conversation with them to find out a little more about Emlenton's history. I quickly realized this place is one of those towns in which most of the residents know everything about it, so between talking with some nice people and some reading I did during the day, here is what I learned:

The Allegheny River running through Emlenton. The Main Street is just 30 feet behind me.

In the mid-1800’s, the borough was named after a woman named Hannah Emlen, the wife of Joseph Fox, a wealthy Quaker that owned land in the region. However, the town was first established well before that by Andrew McCaslin, an entrepreneur that found the land while traveling on the Allegheny River. Throughout the early 1800’s, people made their way to the new town, and with it came housing and new opportunity for business. At first it was lumber, then iron and by the late 1800’s, Emlenton, as well as the rest of the region, moved onto the industry they would be best known for: Oil. With the Allegheny River serving as the ideal transportation system, Emlenton thrived in all of these industries.

These days, kayakers and canoers are the main travelers on this stretch of the Allegheny but 150 years ago, this body of water was a major transportation hub for the most lucrative industries of the era.

In 1882, a group of locals realized that the “natural gas” created from the oil also had uses, which led to the creation of the Emlenton Gas Light and Fuel Company, who learned to harness this by-product and use it as a reliable commercial lighting and fuel source, becoming only the third organized natural gas company in the United States at that time. During this same period, the local oil producers banded together and in 1891 formed the Emlenton Producers Oil Company. Other oil companies in the region became involved, and in 1931, a merger among nineteen firms resulted in the formation of a little company we now know as Quaker State (as an added note, there have been three films produced about Emlenton’s role in the oil industry, all of which will be shown on December 2nd as part of the Oil 150 celebration. For more information, click here.)

Main Street Emlenton, circa 1910.

The great part about Emlenton is that all this history can be found on plaques throughout the downtown indicating how the town flourished and operated in its heyday.

A view of Emlenton from Clarion County (right across the bridge).

After several hours of strolling, reading and admiring, I left Emlenton a little more educated and a lot more entertained. On most days, a person has to look towards the future, so on those rare opportunities you have a chance to look back on history and learn about where generations before came from, you should take advantage. Emlenton is one of those places.