Those who are longtime viewers of The Last Word know that I love local history.  Let me tell you, I was excited and curious to be invited to the Borough of Venango in Crawford County.
  

The reason I'm so excited and curious to be in Venango is that it has 210 citizens. The largest population ever recorded in Venango was 359 people in 1950.  However, this small town has a newly opened museum. I can't wait to learn about the history of Venango, PA.
  

It all started in 1797 with Phillip Straw, Venango's first settler.  Naturally, he named the community “Strawville” after himself.  Near Straw's picture at the museum is a bible dated 1813. Beth Knoedler is a member of the Venango Historical Committee. She bought the bible at a book sale in Meadville several years ago not knowing she would one day become a curator at a museum in Venango.

"So I just happened to pick that book up, brought it home, realized it was actually a Bible and it belonged to a Phillip Straw,” recalls Beth.  

Another wall in the museum is devoted to a man named John Kleckner. He was a businessman who had the town surveyed in 1838.  The survey map hangs on the wall near Kleckner's picture.  Kleckner had some clout.  The town was renamed “Klecknerville” during that survey.  But not for very long.  It was renamed again in 1852.

"Eventually, the town had to be called a different name because we found out that in Pennsylvania, there was another Klecknerville. So now it's called Venango,” says Beth.   

The museum displays the deed given to John Kleckner for the purchase of some land.  It has the original sign that hung outside the office of Doctor Clark, a beloved physician in town in the late 1800s.  Dr. Clark's daughter Bessie was a member of a social club for women in Venango called “The Black Cat Club.” The club had a few rules every member had to follow.  Those rules are posted on a museum wall.

"One of which I find amusing is where that if anybody made eyes at somebody's husband or sweetheart, they were immediately expelled, says Judith Stoll, a member of the Venango Historical Committee. 

Most of the pictures and artifacts were in storage for many years until the committee opened the museum over the Memorial Day weekend.  Citizens are already enjoying what the museum has to offer.

"Whenever they come, they're totally engrossed in what we've accomplished and kind of reliving their past growing up in Venango,” says Joanne Knoedler, a committee member.

The museum is located inside the Venango Boro Building.  It is open every Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m.  The committee is always looking for new donations.