Oil City, PA, birthplace of the oil industry and former headquarters of Standard Oil, Quaker State, and Pennzoil, is a town in northwestern Pennsylvania built by millionaires -- and abandoned ten years ago for the richer oilfields of Texas. It is in the process of re-inventing itself, and the core of a lively and committed arts community is growing in Oil City's distinctive turn-of-the-century buildings.
With urban markets in Erie, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo in easy reach, more and more artists are becoming small-town transplants -- and small towns like Oil City are becoming vibrant centers of creativity.
"I moved to Oil City in 1996 because I could buy a house here for less than a year's rent in Boston -- and because I found a great combination of small town living and city amenities here," says Joann Wheeler, the artist who is heading up the Oil City arts revitalization effort.
"The area boasts an airport, a new regional medical center, safe schools, a branch campus of Clarion University, fine community theaters, a thriving music scene, excellent libraries, beautiful, affordable Victorian homes, and a well-equipped arts center and gallery, all in a breathtaking rural setting of wooded hills and pristine waterways."
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