26 Comments

I was born in Binghamton in 1951. Those times were great memories. IBM in Endicott; General Electric, building jet engines in Westover, just up from Johnson City; EJ Shoes, contracted by the military to manufacture boots; General Aniline & Film, manufacturer of photography products, Link Flight Simulators, and a variety of government contractors. And of course, Harpur College > SUNY Binghamton > Binghamton University.

We can’t just place the blame on IBM for abandoning the Southern Tier. Upstate New York was abandoned by the State of New York, that forgot upstate, in favor of the City, from the mid 70s, to at least 2000. Then they tried to revitalize the area after that by dumping money into the universities. It was too late.

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It reminds me so much of the town I'm from - Aberdeen, Washington. Opposite coast and different departed industry (timber), but such similar houses, surroundings, hopes, and challenges. Great article.

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Thanks for this. My wife’s father’s family is from there. Her grandfather represented the area in Congress from the late 30s to early 50s. Those were probably the glory days of Binghamton. They were old line WASPs, who probably scarcely exist anymore there. It’s sad what’s become of the area - in fact, most of upstate. Utica is another example. It’s like these places are worn out and being discarded, and immigrants and other marginal groups are picking them up for their own use.

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All of upstate NY is truly depressing. It’s hard to find much positive, from the weather to the economic state, to the drugs. Everyone that can leave does leave. Your pictures and words capture it to a tee. Well done.

From Binghamton to Endicott to Owego, Syracuse, Utica, Buffalo it’s all a very sad scene.

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READ TO THE END. THERE ARE MANY COMMENT HERE. I forwarded this link to all my family who grew up in this area and some still live there. Here are the comments that came back: Thanks for sharing. Interesting, although he experienced a VERY limited part of these cities. Perhaps you can get the true pulse of a community by frequenting bars in some cities… but not where he walked. Very few people in the triple cities measure the “health” of their community by how many bars are open on Main Street. I wish he had walked Vestal Ave during soccer season, when myriads of families are together rooting on their kids. I wish he had walked thru Recreation Park on the west side of Binghamton, where the community raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and provided thousands of volunteer hours to build the most amazing playground for the diverse children of the neighborhood. If he had on a summer evening, he probably could have watched a group of people playing cricket in one field, and baseball in another. Yes, the area is more economically depressed then it was in the days of IBM. But, there are SO MANY signs of life there now. Many young educated people are choosing to stay after they graduate from BU. And, unlike some of the people he met in a bar, there are thousands of people in the region that welcome the new diversity coming from all over the world.

ANOTHER ONE: Quite interesting. I agree with the first comment (Barbara Samuels) that he didn’t say nearly enough about the role IBM played in what happened there over the past century. The article treated IBM like a just a side-note that helped explain why there are now fewer bars in Binghamton. And hats off to Lorie, who is still in the Triple Cities, having handed off the marvelously homey Sub Factory to her daughter and son-in-law. Some of us had such a delightful dinner there after the memorial service – I can’t help bragging about it. 😊

AND THERE's MORE: We LOVE where we live! We have chosen to stay here . I felt VERY depressed after reading that article! I wish that he had been able to walk through our rural/suburban areas instead of urban areas of Broome County. It is a lovely , safe place to live and raise our families, and very good schools in every district. So sad that he chose to only experience the negative. I felt angry after I read that article!

EVEN BETTER: Last week my sister-in-law was watching HGTV My Lottery Dream Home and the couple featured were looking for a home in the Binghamton area. The host had trouble pronouncing Bing gamp ton. The TV guy said of the area, “so pretty here and magical. ”The couple looked at 3 houses in 3 areas; Endwell, Endicott, and downtown Binghamton. When they were touring the house in the Highland area in Endwell I kept yelling at the TV - AND there is a big park; AND there is a carousel; AND there is a pool; AND the schools are great M-E or U-E; AND my cousin used to live there. I don’t think they could hear me.

ONE LAST ONE: I took a walk on the rail trail and met a guy who had moved to Vestal from South Philly! He said he loved living in the area.

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Love the photo of the road barrier/basketball court. VM appreciate your work. Ever get to Rochester? instagram.com/carlpultz

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Fascinating piece, reminding me of why my daughter said “Hell, no” to NYU Binghamton only after she’d seen the town.

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Hi, was directed here from the Triad- JVL of the Bulwark. Anyhow, I live a bit North off Rt. 81 in a northern suburb of Syracuse-- another rust belt city along the Erie Canal. I have friends from Utica and Herkimer as well as some left-handed family (ex-step-cousins) from Binghamton and Oswego (where I met my husband of 30 years). My son is currently living in Buffalo attending graduate school so will look forward to reading your posts about it. Love your pictures. Incidentally, at one time Syracuse had some brutalist concrete facades over its historic downtown buildings and the city council decided to remove them and restore the historic character. It definitely helped bring a new life into downtown.

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Thanks for giving us the heads up re your inclination to want to write fiction. I actually think that’s what you’re doing and it is in fact quite entertaining. Creating or re-creating themselves is probably the full time vocation of a writer. Always need a new angle, a new way of presenting what’s been around forever. I enjoy your writing and especially your photos. The shot of the “cathedral” is extraordinary. It’s as if you can walk through the doors and enter that blue sky heaven seen beyond the windows. I find your ability to convey a sense of nostalgia, sadness and longing for what’s been lost to be an interesting and effective way to connect to people. It connected with me. I haven’t read your book and now I’m interested in checking it out. Good luck on your projects, I think you’re on to something.

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Thank you, Chris. I am a 60 yr resident and former municipal official. Our community is like an onion or maybe even more like a baklava, with many many fine layers leading into a rich reward. In either case, all left on the shelf too long, while too many pine for a past that was less bright than the lumina of imagined yesterdays.

I encourage you to Google a local photographer, deceased, named Bruce Wright on. His body of work is a legendary examination of this community and its environs. His work can be found in a well known art gallery. As a Google search will demonstrate. Appalachia,five minutes outside downtown. Rust Belt anywhere that has multiunit housing. Thanks

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"cuts him off because I can guess where this is going." Where was this going?

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Chris, I am a life long resident of the Southern Tier, I grew up just down the road from Endicott in the small town of Owego, just across the county line. (It’s Owego, not Oswego)

I STRONGLY suggest that you swing through Owego on your next trip to the area. Its only 20 minutes down the road from Endicott. It’s a gorgeous little town that has gone through all of the same struggles as Binghamton, Endicott, and Johnson City, but in microcosm. Floods, fires, shut down IBM plants, lost jobs, you name it we’ve had it. But more importantly you will see a small town that is slowly, haltingly on the mend, not because some big outside employer has moved in to save the town, but because the locals, and a small but growing number of ambitious transplants, have decided to make a series of small investments in the town, and in the community. Buildings are being refurbished and repainted, restaurants are opening and flourishing, a beautiful new elementary school has been out in. I think you will find all of the decay of Binghamton, but with a nice added nugget of hope, all set across an absolutely gorgeous backdrop of a beautiful river valley. Fortunately we dodged the era of brutalist architecture that devastated Binghamton. To walk through downtown Owego feels like being transported back to the early 1900s. We are not a rich town, but we are a proud one. I think you will find a lot to love and write about it.

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I was born and raised in Endicott but I left in 1976 and didn't come back until 2010. My observation? The area suffers from ENS- Excessive Nostalgia Syndrome. Too many people only want us to be what we were in the 1950's and 60's rather than looking at we can become. Endicott-Johnson and IBM aren't coming back.

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Where's the proof that people are skimming money?

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Where can I find your book ?

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Very much enjoyed this, bracing and depressing though it is. Looking forward to more.

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