The Endicott-Johnson Corporation emerged from the modest Lester Brothers Company, manufacturers of boots and shoes, that began in 1854. It was created through the tenacity and vision of great American entrepreneur George F. Johnson. Johnson rose from abject poverty to ownership of one of the largest shoe industries in the world. The village of Endicott was built by Johnson c. 1901, and the Triple Cities of Binghamton, Johnson City, and Endicott made up a classic shoe town USA. At its peak, during the 1920s and 1930s, EJ employed twenty thousand people. The monumental impact of corporate...

IBM is heir to all the ideas for innovative ciphering machines of the past. From granite blocks used to tell time, to beads used for accounting purposes, to punch cards, to computer chips as small as a raindrop, all are the historical roots of this corporate legend. IBM began with a small group of visionaries whose first factory was in a dismal garret in Binghamton, New York. By the time the Bundy Manufacturing Company relocated to Endicott, New York, it was part of the greatest industrial revolution in the world: the birth of computing technology. IBM in Endicott illustrates the development...

In 1892, Broome County was described as having a location "that renders it impossible for any combination of circumstances to arrest its growth. Further, it is the best locale for enterprising capitalists and families seeking a safe haven." This statement is as true today as when Broome County was established in 1806. With its sweeping hills and the uniting waters of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, this county in the southern tier of New York continues to be a valley of opportunity.

Broome County: 1850-1940 is the story of people of diverse heritage who have made this area their home....