History

Early settlement

The first known people of European descent to come to the area were the troops of the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, during the American Revolutionary War, who destroyed local villages of the Onondaga and Oneida tribes.^[8] The city was named after William Bingham, a wealthy Philadelphian who bought the 10,000 acre patent for the land in 1786, then consisting of portions of the towns of Union and Chenango.^[8][11] Joshua Whitney, Jr., Bingham's land agent, chose land at the junction of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers to develop a settlement, then named Chenango Point, and helped build its roads and erect the first bridge.^[8][12] Significant agricultural growth led to the incorporation of the village of Binghamton in 1834.^[7][8]
The Chenango Canal, completed in 1837, connected Binghamton to the Erie Canal, and was the impetus for the initial industrial development of the area.^[13] This growth accelerated with the completion of the Erie Railroad between Binghamton and New York City in 1849.^[14] With the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad arriving soon after, the village became an important regional transportation center.^[8][15] Several buildings of importance were built at this time, including the New York State Inebriate Asylum, opened in 1858 as the first center in the United States to treat alcoholism as a disease.^[16]

Valley of Opportunity: Growth as a manufacturing hub

Parlor room at the Roberson Mansion

Binghamton incorporated as a city in 1867, and due to the presence of several stately homes, was nicknamed the Parlor City.^[7] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many immigrants moved to the area, finding an abundance of jobs. During the 1880s, Binghamton grew to become the second-largest manufacturer of cigars in the United States.^[8] However, by the early 1920s, the major employer of the region became Endicott Johnson, a shoe manufacturer whose development of welfare capitalism resulted in many amenities for local residents.^[17] An even larger influx of Europeans immigrated to Binghamton, and the working class prosperity resulted in the area being called the Valley of Opportunity.^[8][17]

Court Street, c. 1910

In 1913, 31 people perished in the Binghamton Clothing Company fire, which resulted in numerous reforms to the New York fire code.^[18][19] Major floods in 1935 and 1936 resulted in a number of deaths, and washed out the Ferry Street Bridge (now the Clinton Street Bridge). The floods were devastating, and resulted in the construction of flood walls along the length of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers.^[8][20]
During the Second World War, growth and corporate generosity continued as IBM, which was founded in Greater Binghamton, emerged as a global technology leader.^[21] Along with Edwin Link's invention of the flight simulator in Binghamton, IBM transitioned the region to a high-tech economy. Other major manufacturers included Ansco and General Electric.^[7] Until the Cold War ended, the area never experienced an economic downfall, due in part to its defense-oriented industries.^[8] The population of the city of Binghamton peaked at around 85,000 in the mid-1950s.^[22]