The following narrative explains what has happened to the River Ridge Farm since the death of its original owner, Joseph Sibley.

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This is the original floor plan of the mansion.

• After the death of Mr. Sibley in 1926, the farm continued to be operated by his two daughters (Josephine and Celia Mary) until 1946.  He had no sons.
• The Sibleys and their children are buried in the Sibley plot in the Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, Pennsylvania.  Each year fresh red geraniums are placed on each grave marker.
• In 1946, the Sibley's oldest daughter Josephine, put the farm up for sale asking $175,000.  Josephine's only daughter, Josephine Haskell attempted to stop the sale claiming that she had an oral first option to purchase the farm.  However, the mother fought the daughter all the way to the Pennsylvania state supreme court to prevent her from purchasing the farm.  A question remains, why would the mother not want the daughter to purchase the farm to keep it in the family?  The 33 room mansion, 1,038 acres of land and all of the out buildings were sold by the mother in 1948 for $137,500, without the furnishings, to the Society of Missionaries of Africa, White Fathers, a Catholic missionary organization.  The mansion became a seminary, a school for young men preparing for the priesthood.  A training program was also established for brothers. 
• All of the mansion furnishing including the library collection were auctioned off by the family on July 13 - 15, 1948.  Many of the furnishings are still in many homes of the Oil City, PA area.
• In less that 10 years, the White Fathers quit farming and sold off 940 acres of land and most of the out buildings  to the Hammermill Paper Company for $175,000.
• The Hammermill Paper Company apparently sold the land to the River Ridge Gravel Co. at some unknown later date.
• The chimes in the Bell Tower were sold in 1967 by the White Fathers to the Eglise Notre Dame D'Anjou Church in Montreal Canada.

This the current floor plan of the mansion as it exists in 2008.  The White Fathers cut-up much of the 2nd floor level of the mansion to create additional bed rooms.

• River Ridge was sold to Life Ministries for $150,000 in 1969.  They still own the property in 2010.

• As of July 2008 - Most of the open fields below the mansion are now forested.  The once beautiful view from the front of the mansion showing the Alleghany River and Reno is now covered with forest.  The once beautiful red tile roof of the mansion was replaced with standard shingles by the White Fathers.  The mansion is used for retreats only.  The Franklin Gate House that the Grandelis family lived in  up for sale in 2008.  The farm house (the original Lamberton brick house by the barn) is empty and has been since 2001.  Doc Woods, who lived in the red brick home, passed away in 2003 and the house is empty as well.  The Featherstone Cottage (the pumpers house) was sold to an insurance man from Erie in 2006.  They are living in the house full time.  It was for sale in 2008 for $159,000.  The Gardener's cottage is currently being lived in.  A few additional modern buildings have been built on the farm.  These consist of two modular homes and a log cabin positioned just south-east of the mansion.  A large storage building has been built just west of the mansion.

A Dream Unfulfilled

The following newspaper articles from the August 22, 1987 and Aug. 26, 1987 News-Herald explain the grand plans for an 18 hole golf course and winter sports complex that was to be built by the River Ridge Development Company.  What happened I do not know, but apparently the team ran out of money.  If anyone knows the details, please let me know and I will add the explanation to this page.

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A News-Herald editorial about the golf course printed on Aug. 26, 1987.

A letter to the editor from my wife's cousin concerning River Ridge.