The Truck Lines of Olean

While mostly unnoticed (and probably underappreciated), trucking lines have a long history of bringing reliable service (and jobs) to the Olean area.

After World War II, railroads began to lose their dominance when it came to delivering freight cargo to local businesses.  As the 1950’s came, so did a reduction in rail service to a variety of business in the Olean area– both retail and industrial.  The final nail in the coffin was when railroads eliminated LCL (Less than Car Load) shipments that would be delivered via box cars to local freight houses.  The Pennsylvania Railroad freight house in Olean closed around 1960.

It was the trucking companies that filled the void, and like the railroads before them, they too went through both growth and reduction phases. 

This article will focus on the local trucking scene during the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s.  Between Olean and just outside the city limits there were 5 truck terminals that operated at some point during that time period.  Similar to the railroad scene of Olean, during the first part of the twentieth century the trucking industry during that time was an interesting mix of both national and local companies.

In the 1980’s the trucking scene changed a great deal as deregulation financially upset the trucking business model while UPS and Fedex took chunks of the business formerly handled by the trucking companies discussed in this article.

Lyons Transportation Lines

I grew up in East Olean and with a mother who worked for a time at Super Duper on East State Street, I was often at that store, frequently waiting in the parking lot for my mother to end her shift.  This gave me an opportunity to watch the semis come and go from the trucking terminal next door.

This terminal was the local home for Lyons Transportation Lines or LTL.  Prior to the terminal on East State, back in the late 1950’s LTL had a terminal on the corner of Front St and Paragon Ave.

LTL was a regional carrier which subsequently pulled out of New York State, with the terminal then left empty for a few years.  In the late 1980’s LTL was acquired by Sherwin Williams (yes the paint folks) but they found out managing a trucking business was much different than the paint business.  The trucking line was sold again, but the company continued to languish until filing bankruptcy in 1990– several years after leaving Olean.  Roadway Express, a national carrier then took over the facility and operated it for several more years until they too left the area.

Mushroom Transportation

Shays Service

The next terminal on the list was located on Water Street, not far from the water treatment plant.   I remember seeing this facility when I was in 7th grade gym class, which would take place in the park between Water Street and the dikes. 

At one point there were two trucking companies operating out of that building: Mushroom Transportation and Shays.

Mushroom Transportation was a regional company that covered much of the northeast.  When the trucking industry was deregulated in 1980, it flipped the industry on its head causing financial hardship for many carriers both regional and national.  Mushroom fell into this category and ultimately went out of business in 1986.

Shays Service was started by father and son team, Lloyd and Harold Shay that covered central and western New York.  The trucking company was sold in 1985 and ceased to exist entirely just a few years later.

We will go just outside the city for the next 3 terminals:

Eastern Freight Ways

The first was on the Hinsdale Highway, on the left, just past the Town of Olean town hall.  That was the terminal for Eastern Freight Ways, another large regional carrier that ran into financial problems in the mid 70’s and was purchased by one of the companies discussed below.

Boss Linco Lines

Associated Transport

The other two terminals were located on Gargoyle Park Road.  On the right-hand side of the road (going towards Gargoyle park) was Boss Linco and on the left-hand side was Associated Transport.

Boss Linco was a regional carrier based out of Buffalo which also suffered due to industry deregulation of 1980 and went out of business in 1982. 

Interestingly, before Boss Linco built its terminal on Gargoyle Road during the 1950’s it maintained a small terminal in part of the former Dow buidling (which had previously served the trolley system) on Main St. 

Associated Transport was at one time the largest trucking company in the United States.  A variety of factors during the 50’s and 60’s began to wear down its profitability.  Then in 1976 they purchased the then ailing Eastern Freight Ways.  This was the death blow for Associated Transport, and the entire company soon shut down.