IBM will no longer hang a shingle in the Southern Tier village where it became a household name.
The company has declined to renew its Endicott lease at 1701 North St. when it expires Oct. 31, just shy of 100 years since a previous incarnation of it was renamed International Business Machines in 1924.
“IBM’s long and fruitful relationship with the Binghamton-area community begins a new chapter this spring,” said Mary O’Malley-Trumble, Senior Location Executive at IBM Endicott. “The past few years brought significant modifications in the way companies operate, and IBM is no exception — we will be ending our lease of physical offices in Endicott.
“This news is bound to have a sentimental impact in this community, which is the birthplace of IBM.”
IBM’s rise and decline in Endicott
IBM’s legacy in Endicott traces back to the early 20th century, when the first manufacturing buildings were erected at what would later become the IBM Campus. The company had 930 employees in Endicott when it took on the IBM name in 1924. Business boomed, and during World War II IBM’s Endicott workforce swelled to over 10,000.
“Big Blue” powered the Broome County economy for decades. IBM was still growing the Endicott campus in the 1980s, announcing construction plans for Building 250, a 90,000-square-foot office building, in 1982. Approximately 6,500 people worked for IBM in Endicott as recently as 1993, according to the company’s chronology.
But IBM’s Endicott operation declined in the ensuing decades and the company sold the sprawling, 4.1 million-square-foot campus in 2002. Today, its last remaining footprint in Endicott is at Building 256. IBM said “a few hundred” employees report out of the site.
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How IBM will maintain a presence in the Binghamton area
“A large number” of employees had been working…
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