The two invited the Franciscan order to Western New York,[6] and a small group under Pamfilo da Magliano arrived in 1855.

Founded in 1939 by Thomas Plassmann, then president of St. Bonaventure's College, and led by its first director, Philotheus Boehner.

The campus sits on 500 acres (2.0 km2) in the town of Allegany, just over the line from the city of Olean (total pop.

In 2019, the Jandoli School of Communication's student-produced newscast, "SBU-TV", became available to television viewers across Western New York.

[13] Thomas Merton, the Catholic monk and writer, taught English at St. Bonaventure for a year just at the start of World War II, living on campus on the second floor of Devereux Hall.

In reality, the hillside had been cleared for oil drilling in the 1920s and trees have since regrown, leaving the bald patch.

[15] St. Bonaventure is an NCAA Division I member of the Atlantic 10 Conference and offers 19 varsity athletic programs.

[16] Six alumni of the university have received the Pulitzer Prize, including Dan Barry (1980), Bill Briggs (1985), Robert A. Dubill (1958), John Hanchette (1964), Charles J. Hanley (1968), and Brian Toolan (1972).