Olean is located in
Cattaraugus County 54 miles east of
Jamestown between
Allegany and Westons Mills near the Pennsylvania state line along Highway 16 on the banks of the Allegheny River near St Bonaventure University in the
Western Region of the state.
The city was named after Olean Shephard, first white child born here. It was developed with the movement west; people leaving New England and eastern New York traveled the river. Until completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, thousands of immigrants traveled from Olean by ark, flatboat, skiff and raft.
