St. Bonaventure, NY

St. Bonaventure is a hamlet and CDP in Allegany, but the university campus is so much of the place that the two are basically one local story. Nicholas Devereux donated the land, and Franciscan friars from Italy helped establish the college; the campus was dedicated in 1858 and became a university in 1950. The community even has its own post office and ZIP code, an office first established on campus in 1907. Between Allegany and Olean, St. Bonaventure reads less like a separate street grid and more like a college settlement with a Franciscan history, a working postal identity, and a name that comes directly from the university.