Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near Olean Historic District Olean, MO

Olean is a tiny town in northern Miller County, Missouri, laid out in 1881 and 1882 by the Jefferson City, Lebanon and Southwestern Railway, which later became part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

The town was first named Proctor, for early settler James G. Proctor, but the name was rejected because Missouri already had another Proctor, and it was briefly called Cove for its semicircular shape.

The railroad finally imposed the name Olean, borrowed from Olean, New York, apparently on a lark, even though the Missouri town had no connection to that city or to oil.

At the turn of the 20th century Olean supported a gristmill and a canning factory, and its post office opened in 1885.

The railroad abandoned the community in 1962, but the Olean Railroad Depot, built around 1884, survives and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

Since 1993 the town has also hosted an annual Testicle Festival, a tongue-in-cheek celebration serving cooked testicles from various animals that draws visitors far beyond the town's size.

The 2020 census counted 114 people in Olean, down from 128 residents in 57 households in 2010 and 157 people in 2000.

Olean covers just 0.17 square miles, about six miles north of Eldon and 26 miles southwest of Jefferson City, the state capital.

It sits in Miller County, organized in 1837 and named for Missouri governor John Miller, a county that also holds part of the Lake of the Ozarks.