De La Roche plaque

The plaque on the front of De La Roche hall is a tribute to Father Joseph De La Roche Daillon. He was a French priest who claimed to be responsible for the discovery of oil in the Allegany area. This is why the plaque depicts oil rigs because of his contribution to oil in North America. But is his contribution fact or fiction?

The discovery of oil in Allegany was amazing for the area. First struck in 1877, the "liquid gold" as many town residents referred to it changed this town forever. The discovery of oil allowed the town to industrialize which was huge because oil was one of the necessary resources for a location to industrialize. Allegany was able to industrialize because of this discovery which is what made it so important.

Oil was first drilled here by the Allegany Oil Company and then several other companies hopped on the band wagon. There were over 30 other companies that were drilling oil here in the late 1800s. The Allegany Oil Company is to credit for the oil in the area, however others tried to take credit for the discovery.

One person who tried to take credit for this was Father De La Roche. He was a French missionary who made it to Canada, but he never actually made it to this side of the US/Canada border. He claimed that he was the first man to see the oil in Allegany but most historians agree that this is simply not true. There is no proof that he was ever here and he was certainly never on the St Bonaventure campus. His story was significant enough to get a building on the St Bonaventure campus named after him. De La Roche hall used to be called Lynch Hall and then in 1934 it was renamed to honor Father De La Roche. De La Roche hall is a science building on campus so it is ironic that it is named after somebody who made a fake contribution to the scientific world.

Overall this artifact is a fun little piece of history that contributes to the religious atmosphere of St Bonaventure University. Of course it makes sense for a Catholic university to honor a religious man who claimed to have made one of the biggest discoveries in the history of the town. Whether his story is true or not, he was honored for it with a building and a nice plaque on the front depicting the oil he "discovered".

http://archives.sbu.edu/Allegany/AAHA.html