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Olean is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County and serves as its financial, business, transportation and entertainment center. It is one of the principal cities of the Southern Tier region of Upstate New York.

The city is surrounded by the town of Olean and is located in the southeastern part of Cattaraugus County. The population was 13,437 in 2019 per the United States Census Bureau.

History

The first European in the area was possibly Joseph de La Roche Daillon, a missionary and explorer from Canada. La Roche reported on the presence of oil near Cuba, the first petroleum sighting in North America. At that time the area was a part of the territory of the Wenrohronon or Wenro Indians, an Iroquois speaking people. In 1643, the Wenro tribes became the first victims of a series of brutal conflicts known as the Second Beaver War.

The area was first settled by Europeans around 1765, called by the Indian name Ischua . Officially, this was illegal, as the British had declared the land in the Allegheny River watershed to be part of the Indian Reserve after conquering the territory in the French and Indian War two years prior. The surface is a hilly upland, separated into two distinct parts by the valley of the Allegheny. The highest points are above the valley. During the American Revolutionary War, the 1779 Sullivan Expedition established the first road to what would become Olean, blazing a trail to what is now Kittanning, Pennsylvania along the path of what is now New York State Route 16.

Originally the entire territory of the county of Cattaraugus was called the Town of Olean, formed March 11, 1808. As population allowed, the county was split in half and the top half was called "Hebe", and was taken off in 1812, a part of Perrysburgh in 1814, then Great Valley in 1818. Hinsdale formed in 1820, and Portville in 1837, leaving the current boundary of Olean that lies upon the south line of the county, near the southeast corner. The area remained sparsely populated until 1804, when Major Adam Hoops acquired the land and gave it its modern name. Hoops was a surveyor and Revolutionary War veteran, and was politically connected with Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. Along with Morris, Hoops became involved with the Holland Land Company, which was settling western New York.

This was a time of great western expansion into places such as Ohio and Indiana. Since neither canals nor railroads had become widespread by this point, the main means of travel was either by cart or small-boat travel. The Allegheny River was a major transportation route. Hoops believed that a great city could be created at the confluence of the Allegheny and one of its tributaries and went looking for the right spot. In 1804 he found a spot where Olean Creek meets the river the confluence was important as it was the farthest point downstream in the state before hitting the Seneca Reservation that surrounded most of New York's piece of the river. Hoops received title to from the Holland Land Company in 1804. Hoops' brother Robert came to the site and built the first permanent structure near today's Forness Park, calling the area Hamilton in honor of Alexander Hamilton.

In a letter to Joseph Ellicott in 1804, Hoops discusses the name Olean from the local Oil Springs and the Latin word oleum :

Canandaigua, N.Y., April 15, 1804

"To Joseph ELLICOTT, Esq., Batavia, New York.

Dear Sir,―It was proposed to me at New York to drop the Indian name of Ischue or Ischua (it is also spelt other ways). Confusion might arise from the various spellings, of which to obviate all risk I have concluded so to do as proposed. The neighborhood of the oil spring suggests a name different in sound, though perhaps not different in meaning, which I wish to adopt,―it is "Olean." You will do me a favor by assisting me to establish this name. It may easily be done now by your concurrence. The purpose will be most effectually answered by employing the term, when occasion requires, without saying anything of an intended change of name. To begin, you will greatly oblige me by addressing the first letter you may have occasion to write to me, after I receive the survey, to the Mouth of Olean. The bearer being properly instructed,