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Olean is a city in Cattaraugus County in western New York, standing where Olean Creek flows into the Allegheny River, and it is the largest city in the county and its financial, business and transportation center.

Olean had a population of 13,937 at the 2020 census, living in about 6,274 households - a sharp fall from its peak of roughly 25,000 people in the mid-1950s.

The city's name was coined in 1804 by land speculator Major Adam Hoops from the Latin word oleum, meaning oil, after the petroleum seeps found in the area.

The Olean area was the site of the first recorded sighting of petroleum in North America, reported in the 1600s by the Franciscan missionary Joseph de La Roche Daillon near present-day Cuba, New York.

Hoops took title to 20,000 acres from the Holland Land Company in 1804, and when Cattaraugus County was organized, the entire county originally formed a single Town of Olean, created on March 11, 1808.

Olean was incorporated as a village in 1854 and as a city in 1893.

During the oil era Olean grew into one of the world's largest oil storage and transfer points - a 'tank city' that served as an operations base for Standard Oil's Socony affiliate, with a pipeline running to Bayonne, New Jersey.

During Prohibition, Olean earned the nickname 'Little Chicago' for its role as a stop on bootlegging routes.

In September 1968, Olean became the first city in the United States to install video surveillance cameras along its main business street.

Cutco knives have been manufactured in Olean since 1949, the city hosts Cutco's national headquarters, and its sister brand KA-BAR - maker of the famous US Marine Corps combat knife - is also produced there, with a Cutco/Ka-Bar Visitors Center open to the public.