Cattaraugus

Formed March 28, 1817 (49^th county)

Cattaraugus County (77,041), Little Valley (1,093), Olean (13,925)

The Modern tan brick courthouse was built in 1965 to replace the 1868 building.  There was an 1818 courthouse earlier in Ellicottville.  The facility is at Court and 8^th streets.  New York State Highway 242 is one block southwest of the site.  Nilstein, Witter, Davis & Hamilton are the architects.  The county was organized on March 28, 1817 from Genesee County as the 49^th county.  Ellicottville was the original county seat until moving to Little Valley in 1860.  The county’s name is Native American for “bad smelling banks” referring to the natural gas leaks on the river.  Little Valley is a geographical term for its location. 

Cattaraugus County government consists of a sheriff and 21 Legislators.  Two County Court Judges, One Family Court Judge, and One Surrogate Court Judge serve Cattaraugus County.  Cattaraugus County is in the southwest part of the state on the border with Pennsylvania.  Buffalo, New York is northwest and Albany, New York is northeast of the county.  The county center is 5.1 miles Southeast of Little Valley.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Erie, Wyoming, and Allegany counties and Pennsylvania and Chautauqua County. 

The area of the county is 1310 square miles.  It is 14 out of 62 in the state.  It ranks 35 out of 62 in population in the state.  It has a density of 58.8 persons per square mile making it 49 out of 62 in the state.  Cattaraugus County has 38.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 86 passes east to west through the county from Allegany County to Chautauqua County.  United States Highway 62 cuts the northwest corner from Erie County, north, to Chautauqua County, west.  United States Highway 219 travels north to south from Erie County to Pennsylvania.  The county is a rectangle with the northern border scooped out.  Little Valley is located in the western quarter of the county.  Olean is in the southeast corner of the county.  Little Valley is the county seat and Olean is the largest city.  Little Valley is 1.4% of the county population while Olean is 18.1% of the county population.  The county is pronounced KAT-A-RA-GUS.  The largest city is pronounced OE-LEEN.  This county is in the Olean Micropolitan Statistical Area.