Matt, Eddy and Michael recently visited Olean and took pictures of our ancestral homes. Eddy is a great photographer and even though the weather is rarely great in Olean he took these terrific pictures that show the reality of where we happily lived from 1957 to 1968. From when I was about ten until I was a senior in High School. I think of Olean as my hometown and have mostly fond memories of growing up there.
122 N Barry St.
Our first house on the street behind the Hotel
RFD East River Road
When we lived there it was an operating dairy run by the Follet family
119 S 8th St
120 S 8th St
The decline of the small industrial towns of the Northeast continues. In 1930, Olean, New York had 30,000 residents. It had 22,000 in the 60’s when we lived there. Now it has about 10,000. Houses are cheap and work is hard to find.
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Somedays I really miss Olean. Then I read things like your blog and remember why I left. Shrinking town, shrinking jobs. Not a great place to live anymore.
As a kid on my bike riding around with friends, I remember Olean as a great place to live. Of course, many of those years I spent Jan-Apr on the ocean in Gulfstream, FL where we avoided most the snow. Maybe that corrupts my memory a little. I expect it’s best not to return too much…..I may loose the glow of those wonderful memories when confronted with today’s reality. That probably applies to Gulfstream as well.
The Olean of our memories is a much nicer place than the Olean of reality.