Allegany County Source 05-30-2025 by Community Source

Bolivar celebrates its bicentennial June 22-29 during Pioneer Oil Days

BY KATHRYN ROSS

BOLIVAR — There are 13 communities named Bolivar in thew United States, but this year marks the 200th anniversary of Bolivar, New York.

A dedicated committee headed by Kelly Lounsberry has been active for over a year planning a bicentennial celebration to take place this summer. Some events have already taken place, but the main celebration will be during the annual Pioneer Oil Days, June 22-29.

The town of Bolivar was formed from the town of Friendship

on Feb. 15, 1825. The first meeting to officially name the town and nominate officials took place in Hollis B. Norton’s store on March 21, 1825. Asa Cowles was chosen as supervisor and Austin Cowles was tabbed as the town clerk. The Cowles were among the first permanent white settlers in the Bolivar Valley.

Timothy Cowles and his two sons arrived in the area from Vermont in 1819. According to the history of Bolivar compiled by the Bicentennial Committee, available on its website, “By 1825, enough citizens lived near the confluence of Root Holler and Little

Genesee creeks that they decided to form a town. They chose ‘Bolivar’ to honor the then living Liberator of South America, General Simon Bolivar.”

“We were the first town to be named after Simon Bolivar,” said Ethyl Burdick, one of the first curators of the Bolivar Oil Museum. Talking about the articles in the Museum’s Simon Bolivar Room, she continued, “The big statue of him is from the Venezuelan Exhibit from the New York World’s Fair in (1939/1964). The mayor’s brothers asked the exhibitors if we could have it.”

The museum also

boasts a smaller metal bust of the Liberator, a gift from the Venezuelan delegation that visited Bolivar in 1984. Other items in the Simon Bolivar Room include a drawing of Bolivar’s home, a portrait based on Venezuelan school children’s conception of the man, selection of artwork given to Bolivar by citizens of Venezuela, a Panamanian mole, a Peruvian llama, a piece of an Incan temple and arts and crafts and literature from South America.

Historically, from 1825 to 1881, the popu-

Belfast comprehensive plan earns award from WNY association

The Town of Belfast Comprehensive Plan (2024) has been awarded the 2025 Outstanding Planning Award-Director’s Choice by the Western New York Section of the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association. The award recognizes a planning initiative that reflects the highest standards of professional excellence while embracing the core values of innovation, collaboration, and community-driven vision. The Belfast plan stood out for its ability to unite local voices, address critical needs, and develop a forward-thinking strategy — despite limited resources.

The plan was developed through a partnership between the town and the Allegany County Office of Planning, with an emphasis on community participation. The plan reflects a year-long effort to gather input from residents, local leaders, and community organizations. Through public workshops, surveys, and local interviews, the final plan offers a clear vision for economic development, land use, infrastructure, and quality of life in Belfast. In announcing the award, the selection committee noted: “Your plan’s collaborative vision, steadfast community engagement,

and innovative approach despite limited resources demonstrate what is possible when community members unite to create a better future for themselves and generations to come. This work truly represents the very best our industry has to offer.”

The Belfast Comprehensive Plan was recognized for its resilience and creativity in the face of challenges, and for serving as a model of what can be achieved in small, rural communities through inclusive, grassroots-driven planning.

The award was accepted on behalf of the

File photo

The Pioneer Oil Museum on Main

Photo provided

Stacy Beardsley (left), deputy director, and Kier Dirlam, director of Allegany County Planning, accepted a Western New York award for the town of Belfast Comprehensive Plan.

Bolivar Bicentennial

Cuba-Rushford senior takes part in Students Inside Albany

CUBA — Coleton Stupp, a senior at Cuba-Rushford Central School, was chosen to attend 2025’s Students Inside Albany program sponsored by the League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation, Inc.

This longstanding annual Students Inside Albany program took place from May 18-21, and brought 45 students from across the state to Albany to get a first-hand education about their state government. The program is designed to increase high school students’ awareness of their

responsibility in representative government and provide information about the tools necessary for meeting that responsibility.

While at the conference, students joined their peers in a handson learning experience about how state government works. Students will participate in a series of interactive lectures on topics such as the state budget process, the role of lobbyists in the legislative process, citizen rights to access government information, the role of media in politics and the move to reform state government.

While in Albany, the students toured the state’s capitol. The highlight for most students is the opportunity to shadow their senators and their assemblymembers for an afternoon attending session on the chamber floors.

For more information on the League of Women Voters Cattaraugus/Allegany Counties chapter, visit cattarau-

guslwv@gmail.com. For more information on the League of Women Voter of New York State Edu-

WELLSVILLE — The Wellsville Area Chamber of Commerce will host its Annual Golf Tournament and Clambake at the Wellsville Country Club on June 5.

The tournament will be a four-person scramble format (men’s, women’s and mixed teams) with a 10 a.m. shotgun start.

“The best thing about a scramble format is that it is a quicker paced tournament and allows for golfers at every

level to participate,” said Bruce Thomas, executive director of the Chamber. “The tournament is filling up and registration is first come, first served. For easy registration and payment, you can sign up your team on the Chamber’s website.”

The cost of the tournament is $500/per foursome and includes a cart, 18 holes of golf, lunch, clambake dinner and gift bag.

Not a golfer? The

cation Foundation, Inc., or the Students Inside Albany program, go to www.lwvny.org.

Wellsville Chamber’s golf tourney, clambake is June 5

clambake dinner is open to the public Thomas said. Event proceeds benefit the Chamber’s community events and activities.

Register for the golf tournament and/or purchase your Clambake tickets online at: www. wellsvilleareachamber. com/events/golf-tournament

For more information, contact the Chamber at (585) 593-5080 or email msc@wellsvilleareachamber.com.

Photo provided

Coleton Stupp (center), a Students Inside Albany delegate, is shown with (from left) Cuba-Rushford counselor Charanna Swarthout; Codleton’s father, Jason Stupp; Coleton’s mother, Brittany Deschler; and Margie McIntosh of the League of Women Voters.

BY KELLEN M. QUIGLEY

OLEAN — Several Allegany County students were among the 31 area high school seniors honored at the 34th annual Big 30 Academic Scholarship Banquet.

Each of the students who attended from their respective school districts was honored with a plaque for excellence in academics, extracurricular activities and community involvement.

A committee of high school principals has bestowed more than $70,000 in scholarships to students since 1990.

The Allegany County members of the 2025 Big 30 Academic AllStars are: Ethan Warriner, Andover; Jenna Hill, Belfast; Raegan Giardini, Bolivar-Richubrg; Finnian Ricketts,

Evelyn Cox, Fillmore; Melody Dombrowski, Friendship; Ryan Daciw, Genesee Valley; Hailey Illerbrun, Scio; Marissa Weinhauer, Wellsville; and Katrina Lewis, Whitesville.

The annual banquet, held at the Woodside Tavern, was attended by the students, their parents and principals from the Olean Times Herald/The Bradford Era coverage area known as the Big 30, comprising over 30 school districts from New York and Pennsylvania.

Keynote speaker Brian Martin, host of the Teaching Champions podcast, asked the students to keep three words in mind: failure, curiosity and energy, as well as three stories from three inspiring figures.

“I would encour-

age you to write these names down because we can learn a lot from other people,” he said Thursday evening. “These are three high achievers just like yourselves.”

The success of Sara Blakely, the youngest self-made female billionaire and founder of Spanx, began with $5,000 in the bank and led to taking on the male-dominated finance world, Martin said, but it wasn’t easy. Her perseverance and ability to keep going came from her unique mindset regarding failure.

“The biggest lesson she got that made her a billionaire came when she was young,” Martin said. “She said she would come home from school, and her dad would welcome her in, they would go to the dinner table and her dad would ask her about school. … The one thing he wanted to know was, ‘What did you fail at today?’”

Allegany Co. students among Big 30 Academic selections

Blakely said those experiences helped put in her mind that true failure wasn’t the lack of success but the lack of even trying. Martin said there will be setbacks and missteps, but there are things the students can take away from those failures and keep working toward their goals.

Next, Kobe Bryant may be best known as one of the greatest NBA players of all time, but Martin said that his interests and pursuits extended to speaking five languages, publishing several books, winning an Oscar and an Emmy, playing classical music and being an advocate for women’s sports.

“Kobe Bryant was a lot more than just a basketball player, and this all goes with being curious,” Martin said.

After a series of missed shots during a must-win playoff game led to the Los Angeles Lakers losing, an 18-year-old Bryant said winning is exciting, but

losing is exciting too, because there are clues and answers on how to get better.

“He says, ‘Well, better, how,’” Martin explained. “In anything that you do, what did you do well, what could you do better and how are you going to get better next time?”

Finally, lessons from

William McRaven, a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral and Special Operations commander, can teach the students about energy from an incident during Navy SEAL basic training, known

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as Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S).

“During this week, there’s no sleep, you’re not getting enough food, and all day long it’s up and down, doing drill after drill, caked in mud, and then nighttime hits,” Martin explained.

While the SEALs are struggling to get through the night, McRaven shared that one of the instructors comes to the group and tells them they have hot coffee and soup for them, but only if five of them quit. As one of the candidates got up, somebody down the

line started singing. Pretty soon, all of them were singing and the candidate who started walking away came back to the group.

“Together, they fought through the night, and it was all about the energy that you give off,” Martin said. “The energy you

give off when you walk into your professional space or around your friends or inside of the family unit, it matters. We all get to decide what energy we give.”

A second-grade teacher at Western New York schools for more than 20 years, Martin said the decade that has

passed between when the seniors were in second grade and now may seem like a long time, but to others in the room, it has gone by in the blink of an eye.

“What you have achieved, what you have done, what you have learned in a short amount of

lation of Bolivar seldom exceeded 160 residents, who made their livings as farmers, loggers and tanners. On April 27, 1881, that changed when, “A huge oil gusher was struck in the nearby town of Wirt.”

Known as the Richburg Discovery well, it produced more than 400 barrels of oil a day, “beginning the oil boom that forever changed the Bolivar valley.”

“Within 10 months of the discovery the population of Bolivar grew ... to as many as 12,000 prospectors who moved into the valley to make their fortune in the oil fields. Business exploded with an Opera House, six clothing stores, 14 blacksmiths,

Allegany County Office of Planning and the town of Belfast by Kier Dirlam, director, and Stacy Beardsley, deputy director, during the 2025 Western New York APA Section Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony held on May 14 in Buffalo

ALLEGANY COUNTY SEEKS INPUT ON TRAILS

Allegany County is undertaking a Compre-

four meat markets, seven doctors and 11 attorneys, and a telephone exchange,” according to the history.

Wells were drilled everywhere and by the end of 1882, approximately 7 million barrels of oil had been extracted from the Allegany oil field, mainly in and around Bolivar. Millionaires were born with the flow of oil and built grand houses along the streets of Bolivar. By 1920 oil production had ebbed, but a new recovery method of flooding the wells with water initiated the second oil recovery and propelled Boliver into a prosperous future.

The history states, “Bolivar was one of the

hensive County-Wide Trail Master Plan utilizing a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

This study will be guided by consultants from Larson Design Group and the Allegany County Office of Planning, said W. Brooke Harris, chairman of the county Board of Legislators.

The county-wide trail study plan calls for public feedback. Help

wealthiest communities per capita in New York state,” based on the production of green crude oil.

During World War II the production of oil was declared an essential war industry, and while many local men headed for the battlefields of the Europe and the Pacific, many also stayed in the oil fields. In the 1950s the secondary recovery of oil peaked and oil production declined.

Today the forests of oil wells that once stretched across the fields from Richburg to Bolivar and beyond are preserved in old photographs displayed on the walls of the elegant homes that still grace

shape the future of the Allegany County trail systems; feedback will be used to form the recommendations for future trail improvements across Allegany County.

Harris sadid all responses are anonymous and participants should expect the survey to take up to 10 minutes to complete. To participate in the survey and share your thoughts, go to: tinyurl.com/AlleganyCountyTrails

the streets of Bolivar and in the memories of the children and grandchildren of the oil pioneers.

That history has been celebrated since the 1980s with the annual Pioneer Oil Days. This bicentennial year, Pioneer Oil Days will pay testimony to that Oil Dynasty and the founders of the “Small Town With Big Pride.”

On June 22, the Great Bicentennial Bathtub race will run for the roses on Main Street.

On June 28, the Brothers of the Brush Beard and Mustache Competition will be judged. Winners in five categories will receive cash awards.

Local artist Eric Jones will carve a sand sculpture celebrating Pioneer Oil Days.

Visitors can get their Bicentennial t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts and hoodies at the online Bolivar Bicentennial store.