I worked at Endicott IBM from 1979 to 1990. Came back on a business trip to the area in early 2010 and was shocked to see the entire town empty. There used to be hundreds of IBM employees with their badges walking the streets during lunch time but there were none during my visit. SO SAD
17yrs, took one of the last buyouts in 1998 ... there was eve more "writing on the wall" when I left. To me it seemed management was happy to let work leave Endicott, because they all had the weird mindset that they had a "job for life", so why fight to work harder, lol. I was younger, and just laughed to myself when managers told me I had a "job for life" ... the brainwashing ran deep in their culture, like a virus.
The building you refer to as the school building is the Engineering Lab, Bldg 32, which was completed in 1933. While it is the 'eastern' side, not all of the eastern side is being demoed, just the portion south of the RR tracks. The buildings north of RR, 47, 250, 256 etc are NOT being demoed. The second building you call the school was in fact the first School (Bldg 33). Also completed in 1933. Thanks for sharing.
The piece of equipment that you were asking about is known as a high reach Demolition shear, the control cab can be tilted/angled to give the operator better sight of what he is working on
My parents were married in the IBM Country Club in 2000 and we had family who worked in these facilities. To say the area has nosedived since is a massive understatement. If you took someone fifty years ago who worked at IBM and you showed them the area today, they would say it was bombed by the Russians.
So sad. Growing up in the 50s n 60s in Endwell with neighbors who were IBMers and very proud that IBM was in OUR hometown. I passed by the IBM Country Club almost every day and it broke my heart to see that torn down. Had a high school field trip to see the brand new Selectric electric typewriter in '72. We were using manual ones then. Listened to and sang Crockodile Rock on the bus radio. Lots of fun. Then my Brother worked at IBM in the 70s n 80s. A huge chunk of our area's history is gone now. Same with EJ Shoes, but not as much as IBM.
We lived in Endwell from ‘57 to ‘63. My Dad didn’t work for IBM though, he worked for Link-Singer. That was when my Mom insisted that her first car of her very own be none other than a forty foot-long 1958 Oldsmobile convertible…. in Endwell NY. For starters, the damn thing wouldn’t fit in our garage. If I remember correctly she put the top down about 6 times in all the years we owned it lol. By the way we lived on Corey Avenue.
@@kcindc5539 Lasalle drive 57-63, Ventura off pheasant 64-66. G.H. Nichols and Homer Brink. Remember when the two lions at Ross Park ate the zoo keeper?
@ holy crap. I’d forgotten all about the Ross Park lions. That was in May ‘63 if I remember correctly, a couple months before we moved to Connecticut. And yep, I know exactly the two areas you lived lol. Small world
I don't know what's stranger: The buildings where I worked on the chip line in 78-79 being torn down, or Frank walking around on a clear day in December in a t-shirt in the Southern Tier. I spent 6 months transferring chips from aluminum trays into titanium trays for a chemical bath. I'm surprised my daughter only has 2 eyes! The high point of my job was when IBM introduced a new computer and the cafeteria had free unlimited prime rib for all shifts! The drone shots also show how all the old "Norton" houses are gone, as well as the cultural center of Endicott, otherwise known as "The Hideaway". I also remember the smells from the tannery in Endicott. I went to kindergarten-2nd grade [ Ms. Quinlavin] at the George H. Nichols elementary school. In retrospect the Endwell-Endicott area was a great place to be a child in the 50's-70's. It all seems to be gone now. Thank you for your videos, they are nostalgic and sad sometimes, but very well made.
to be fair - he walks out of the house without a coat 90% of the time lol. But... we have had some unseasonably warm weather the past week. Back to winter now.
Love your work in both AC and Endicott area. I went to UE and graduated in 89 and moved to the AC area in Jersey years later where I remain today. Thanks for doing what you do. I worked in security at one of those IBM buildings in the early 90’s as a 20 something in college so I love these updates
Good day sir and yes you are right School and the area that you said where they held banquets in like that is actually the lunch room and the Passover Bridges were for taking and transporting materials that were being built their from one department to another and there are underground tunnels that do connect the building's also. Now the brown round cylinder you seen in that space between the buildings with the silver top that is a water monitoring well where they would pull samples to see if there are contaminants seeping into the groundwater that does supply Endicott. They are all throughout that part of the region as you walk around through the neighborhoods you would notice them
My father worked in Endicott at IBM until he passed away from a stroke in the 1990's. I have driven by those buildings many times. I wonder what the 'school' building is used for now, it looks in pretty good shape. If I remember it has IBM engraved on the front. He also worked in Poughkeepsie and tells of when IBM had a dedicated airplane just to fly employees to and from Endicott and Poughkeepsie. To bad they don't put a plaque up in front of the building telling everyone what was here, and the birthplace of IBM.
I worked there from 1978-2002 in Facilities Services. Most of that time in Facilities Maintenance. It is indeed sad to see the “Old BLDG Group” being demolished. My offices and shops were located there. The bldgs were originally built as manufacturing space and were completely remodeled in the 80s and 90s. They were in good shape until the site was sold. The engineering and maintenance staff did an outstanding job of operating a 4M sq. Ft. Site for about $50M/yr back in 2002. For contrast the 3M sq. Ft. Fab in Burlington spent $130M/yr and the Fishkill 5M sq. Ft. Site spent $150M! To all of those who worked in iBM Endicott Facilities Services, I salute you. 😊
I moved away from the area in 1994, but so clearly remember how busy and vibrant Endicott used to be. It's sad to see the old IBM buildings in such a decrepit state. Thanks for keeping us updated.
I worked there in the 80's, when thousands worked there and Washington ave was full of people and every storefront was busy. It all started to decay in the 90's.. I left in 1998 before it got worse.
Really sad to see these buildings coming down. I worked in that first building being demolished known as building 4, on the first floor in the rear of the building back in 1997. The decline of IBM in Endicott was very evident during the decade of the '90s'. I also worked in Building 25 located at the corner of North St. and Mckinley Ave. Very fond memories of an era long gone.
I used to drive a forklift for Manpower in the early 2000's. Had a lot of fun zooming through the buildings picking up and delivering freight. I remember building 18 was the scary chemical place. The walls had literal patches of green discoloration from the circuit board etching chemicals.
On the topic of the space between the buildings and why there are several rather narrow buildings. At the time they were built (1920's) air conditioning was not available. Where the glass block windows are there were glass tilt-out windows that were for natural light and ventilation. If the IBM Museum material was still in Endicott (instead of in a warehouse in Poughkeepsie) you could see pictures of the interior of these buildings taken shortly after they were built. I'm thinking specifically of a picture of the cabinet shop where they built cabinets for very early tabulating equipment as well as office desks and chairs.
One of my highlights when I had a meeting in Endicott was seeing these buildings and I remember the school house. I was impressed by the sheer size of the buildings.
I worked at IBM from 1983 to 2021, in the Glendale Lab from 1983 to 1992, then building 256 from 1992 to 1995, then building 57 from 1995 to 2005, then back to building 256 until I retired. So I never worked in any of these buildings that are being demolished, though I did pass through them several times before they were closed (2002? I forget). When General Electric demolished many buildings in Schenectady 30-40 years ago, they allowed the public to salvage bricks. Due to the certainty of asbestos contamination, there's no way any salvage will be allowed here.
I worked evenings in one of those big white buildings during my 2nd year in college. Walked through one building from where we parked, to get to one of those bridges between buildings to get to our place in another building. Earned $1.75 an hour -- the most I'd ever made at that point -- which was about 50 cents an hour above minimum wage, so you know that was a long time ago. I repaired printed circuit boards, which were much larger than the laptop I use now. A computer was about the size of a really big refrigerator back then. Had many suppers in the IBM cafeteria across the street. Food was pretty good.
Worked facilities maintenance at IBM Endicott for 30 years. Put many hours in those old buildings, That was added as an emergency exit stairwell. I am very curious about the underground tunnel that goes from the old powerhouse to building 47 under the railroad.
Very sad to see how the buildings have deteriorated, but wow they are an eyesore now, especially when looking from above. Be interesting to see what happens to that space. I started with IBM back in 1984 in Owego until they sold us to Loral in the early 90's and then to Lockheed Martin.
I was hired at IBM as a high school intern in 1979-1980. I believe I worked in building 14, which I remember as one of the newish buildings during that time. I used to have to walk the length of all those buildings to get to the "repro" center to make copies of tons of documents. My mother also worked for IBM in Endicott.
@@fgpalm it was worse than bad ... all the chemicals in the air and ground... it was an environmental & work hazard. Management routinely sent bad performers to building 18 to work on the open bath plating lines, as punishment, while joking about how people would die from cancer there. I had a house located within the IBM groundwater contamination zone .. after 15yrs of ownership, I got 1/2 what I paid for it. I had to take money to the closing.
Worked at Endicott IBM 1979 to 1990. Remember hundreds of IBM employees with badges at lunch time walking the streets. Went back to the area in 2010 for a trip and it was completely empty and quiet. SO SAD
I worked nearby as an IBM College Coop in 1984 and then worked at IBM in Vermont for 39 years retiring last year. I remember that 1991 fat payout and the people taking that buyout from Lou Gersner were ecstatic! Fat buyouts and Pensions are no more for sure.
So sad my dad worked in one of the to be demolished buildings in the 80's and 90's. I worked in building 18 as a summer intern back in the early 00's. It's sad to see it go, hopefully something can be built there and it not just be a vacant lot.
Damn thats wild. I always assumed that building would be there for another couple decades before it was torn down lol.. I'm pretty sure our senior prom was at the McKinley.
Worked there from 1969 to 1997, Part of the delay was probably asbestos removal where possible like in the old power house at the rear of the complex between the RR tracks and the front buildings. Spent many hours working there.
My dad worked in personnel in the old farmers bank in Union, then in Glendale lab, then the main plant. 13 years I worked at the main plant 74 to 81, temporary assignment in Owego plant, Westover temporary assignment. 81 transferred to Charlotte, took buy out 91. Also saw handwriting on the wall. Wow. Bottom line hope my retirement checks keep coming!
This is actually a good thing. The Triple Cities has been in a time warp. Locals still think and act like IBM is in full swing and never got past it. Bingo can become a great place again, but gotta throw away the past and look forward
Wow, really looking forward to another empty lot in Bing area! Fabulous if some BEAUTIFUL low income housing was created here, we need to get those freezing unhoused people and their children into some decent housing. And affordable housing for working class people, senior citizens. LET'S CREATE SOMETHING USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL HERE FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED IT!
Endicott Johnson shoes ....everyone just called them "EJ". The slogan "which way EJ" was commonly asked by immigrants coming to work in the factories up here.
Thank you. I used to manage a division for a company i worked for, in Upstate NY in the 90s and I had a technician who lived up there. He was IBM but had been laid off and he did a good job for us. Very interesting town, I'd only go up a few times a year and it would be in the summer and fall because it was so beautiful. Had some guys over in Rochester and Buffalo. Kinda miss those road trips. Head up to Canada for a night out. Golf at some really spectacular courses. Saw the PGA up there. Nice. Endicott seamed like it was becoming a ghost town even then.
I do work very often in these building. The lack of maintenance is bad. They put band aids on everything. When IBM was in there Things where taken care of around the clock. No way they can build any new building on these sites. I would think the DEC would never allow it. Considering all the issues already with the IBM Plume.
Why was I not told about this ..... I would have corme visit home. I'm from Elmira and it's not far from bingo town. The IBM office building with the IBM meaning safed?? Corning Inc black buildings you can see from 86 is empty. My aunt worked at the diesel plant in Addison. My mom told me that the offices were empty when I went home for Xmas Day.
In addition to the cat walks that connect the buildings there are also under ground tunnels that connect them including one that goes under north street
Really have to wonder if Environmental and asbestos testing has been done. Not sure I’d trust if not done by an independent third party firm. Have done a lot of demo and those old bldg are full of asbestos in the window mullings and floor tile. Would also suspect any old pipe insulation.
@@fgpalm Between the asbestos and all the chemicals IBM used, I wouldn't want to live in any of those buildings. And I wonder what's in the soil around there.
I predicted that IBM someday would be out of business!!!! (I was 9 or 10) I grew up not too far away and all I heard was how great IBM was. Years of hearing they never get rid of anyone!!!! Then the bottom fell out!! Pink slips were handed out and my prediction came true. So glad to see this eyesore and toxic site go down!!! Happy days are here again for all the shit head IBM’ers!!!! Glad I moved from the shit hold of the world!!!!
If there was possible asbestos the demolition should have been tented. Regardless, it couldn’t be one bit safe for the many people in the parking lot watching it.
Since we're all watching this interesting video on a phone or some other type of computer, it's safe to say they are still being manufactured, just not in Endicott, NY. Most of the comments are from people that moved away. Did you move away because you didn't like the area or more likely because the jobs left the area. My point is when will people like Jason Garner learn that it's the over regulation by gov't along with absurd energy costs, in spite of being in a municipal elect dist, that made these buildings empty and caused the manufacturing to move. We could bring manufacturing back if officials would take their foot off the throats of entrepreneurs trying to start businesses. Start with 2 well intentioned but very costly regs of minimum wage and the Americans With Disability Act. Both do more harm than good to small business. IBM was a small business before it became a big business.
Jobs didn't "leave" the area. Corporate boards decided that much more money would accrue to CEOs and shareholders by moving jobs overseas (thanks to LACK of regulation), where workers are paid far less than Americans because the standard of living is much lower there. Cutting minimum wage and reducing opportunities for the disabled won't affect that one wit. Workers could easily be paid more if CEO salaries weren't hundreds or even thousands of times what workers are paid.
@@allenlutins As a past CEO of a company I can assure you, you're delusional. But you do have the correct realization that companies have to keep costs down in order to keep the sales price of their product or service low enough that people like you will choose theirs over a competitor who is working to keep their own costs down. The beauty and stress of free market capitalism. I've sat with a CEO who was furious that he was having to move his electronic manufacturing company out of NY to Virginia because the costs of doing business here were causing him to lose contracts to competitors. He loved this area and loved his 32 employees. I've worked with a CEO that hadn't taken a paycheck in many years while paying his employees what he could, hoping sanity would return to NY and our economy would return. He finally begrudgingly moved his business to Arizona. I could go on with more examples of companies that had to move in order to compete with their competitors to stay in business, but you get the idea. As for the ADA, it's based around people in wheelchairs. Less the 5 million (1.5%) people in this country are in wheel chairs and over 95% of those people are elderly in nursing homes, hardly looking for job opportunities. One example of idiocy is NYC spent so much money rebuilding all the city controlled apartment kitchens to fit wheel chairs that they could have built a completely new building and housed every person in a wheelchair in that building completely free for a fraction of what they spent on those new kitchens. As for the min wage, ask yourself why companies like Walmart and Amazon are the biggest advocate of higher min wage, even though they pay a higher wage. It's because they can't compete with a small family business if that small business was allowed to set it's own wages and compensate employees in other ways such as meals or housing or with more convenient hours that the larger companies could never do because of the large number of employees needed. The really sad part of this video is that the destruction of these buildings are probably being paid for by our gov't. because our economy is so bad they couldn't GIVE those buildings and grounds to someone free. In a booming economy some company would have jumped at those buildings to fix them up and use or replace. Just as Bing has torn down burned out or falling down homes and businesses. The properties remain vacant instead of being a growing economy where an empty lot is grabbed up and a home or business is built on it. Socialism creates poverty, Capitalism creates opportunity. Always have and always will.
@@allenlutins As an ex CEO let me inform you about reality. I've sat with a CEO who was very upset about having to move his company to Virginia. He was electronic manufacturing and competed with other manufacturers from around the country for work. He tried everything for a number of years before finally moving just to stay in business. Another CEO went years without collecting a paycheck himself to stay in business but paying his employees hoping sanity would return to NYS and allow the economy to improve. He finally begrudgingly move it to Az. I could go on but you get the point. Businesses have to compete with other businesses for work and it's not easy in a state like NYS. That's why more people are leaving than coming. Those leaving are the workers and entrepreneurs while those coming tend to be looking for hand outs. Not a sustainable society. Tell someone trying to start their first business with no money that paying someone what they can afford as opposed to what some gov't official demands won't make a difference to the company succeeding. We need to start thinking of the startup entrepreneurs instead of the kids that won't use a condom and start a family before they can afford one. The ADA is based around people in wheelchairs. Less than 5 million in this country(1.5%) are in wheelchairs and over 95% of those people are elderly in nursing homes. Hardly people looking for job opportunities or access to someone's business. NYC rebuilt all the kitchens in their controlled buildings to be wheelchair accessible. For a fraction of what they spent on that project they could have built a new wheelchair accessible building large enough to house every handicapped person in the city and let them live there rent free. A CEO bought a building to expand his business out of his garage and the largest expense was replacing the bathroom with a handicap accessible room. It's been over 20 yrs and not one wheelchair has ever been in that over priced bathroom. Socialism is a system implemented by a group of gov't officials telling you and me who we can do business with and under what conditions and has increased poverty every time throughout history. Free market capitalism is not a system put in place, rather it's the freedom of letting people do business with whom ever they freely choose at the conditions they choose. It has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system known to man.
It’s not just the CEO pay but also stockholders expectations for constantly growing profits that are the issue. Wall Street is what pushed all the manufacturing to China to lower costs because people over there are treated like slaves. Here we had unions for a while that improved worker conditions here, but those are fading lately.
I'm at a loss for words. Growing up in the area in the mid 70's to the mid 80's I always expected IBM to be in Endicott forever.
I worked at Endicott IBM from 1979 to 1990. Came back on a business trip to the area in early 2010 and was shocked to see the entire town empty. There used to be hundreds of IBM employees with their badges walking the streets during lunch time but there were none during my visit. SO SAD
I took the early buyout after 19yrs of service in 1993, I saw the writing on the wall with all the work they were shipping over to China!
17yrs, took one of the last buyouts in 1998 ... there was eve more "writing on the wall" when I left. To me it seemed management was happy to let work leave Endicott, because they all had the weird mindset that they had a "job for life", so why fight to work harder, lol. I was younger, and just laughed to myself when managers told me I had a "job for life" ... the brainwashing ran deep in their culture, like a virus.
The building you refer to as the school building is the Engineering Lab, Bldg 32, which was completed in 1933. While it is the 'eastern' side, not all of the eastern side is being demoed, just the portion south of the RR tracks. The buildings north of RR, 47, 250, 256 etc are NOT being demoed. The second building you call the school was in fact the first School (Bldg 33). Also completed in 1933. Thanks for sharing.
The clock building I knew as the laboratory.
@@zzzdogutube Right Bldg 32 aka the Lab aka Laboratory aka Engineering Lab aka clock building aka clock tower. 😀
The piece of equipment that you were asking about is known as a high reach Demolition shear, the control cab can be tilted/angled to give the operator better sight of what he is working on
Well I personally think they should rename it the the tall claw grabby thing.
My parents were married in the IBM Country Club in 2000 and we had family who worked in these facilities. To say the area has nosedived since is a massive understatement. If you took someone fifty years ago who worked at IBM and you showed them the area today, they would say it was bombed by the Russians.
My mom told me my dad used to work on the circuit boards and my grandpa used to work in Owego being a printer
So sad. Growing up in the 50s n 60s in Endwell with neighbors who were IBMers and very proud that IBM was in OUR hometown. I passed by the IBM Country Club almost every day and it broke my heart to see that torn down. Had a high school field trip to see the brand new Selectric electric typewriter in '72. We were using manual ones then. Listened to and sang Crockodile Rock on the bus radio. Lots of fun. Then my Brother worked at IBM in the 70s n 80s. A huge chunk of our area's history is gone now. Same with EJ Shoes, but not as much as IBM.
Without EJ as precedent, IBM would not have been the same company.
We lived in Endwell from ‘57 to ‘63. My Dad didn’t work for IBM though, he worked for Link-Singer. That was when my Mom insisted that her first car of her very own be none other than a forty foot-long 1958 Oldsmobile convertible…. in Endwell NY. For starters, the damn thing wouldn’t fit in our garage. If I remember correctly she put the top down about 6 times in all the years we owned it lol. By the way we lived on Corey Avenue.
@@kcindc5539 Lasalle drive 57-63, Ventura off pheasant 64-66. G.H. Nichols and Homer Brink. Remember when the two lions at Ross Park ate the zoo keeper?
@ holy crap. I’d forgotten all about the Ross Park lions. That was in May ‘63 if I remember correctly, a couple months before we moved to Connecticut. And yep, I know exactly the two areas you lived lol. Small world
@@semperfine4442 - we lived in Endwell 58 - 63 on Rath Ave. Went to Homer Brink - Virginia Waterman's and Miss Guernsey's class.
I don't know what's stranger: The buildings where I worked on the chip line in 78-79 being torn down, or Frank walking around on a clear day in December in a t-shirt in the Southern Tier. I spent 6 months transferring chips from aluminum trays into titanium trays for a chemical bath. I'm surprised my daughter only has 2 eyes!
The high point of my job was when IBM introduced a new computer and the cafeteria had free unlimited prime rib for all shifts!
The drone shots also show how all the old "Norton" houses are gone, as well as the cultural center of Endicott, otherwise known as "The Hideaway". I also remember the smells from the tannery in Endicott. I went to kindergarten-2nd grade [ Ms. Quinlavin] at the George H. Nichols elementary school.
In retrospect the Endwell-Endicott area was a great place to be a child in the 50's-70's. It all seems to be gone now.
Thank you for your videos, they are nostalgic and sad sometimes, but very well made.
Thank you! Endicott Still isnt bad....just not the same opportunities. Lots of stuff to clean up form the past.
to be fair - he walks out of the house without a coat 90% of the time lol. But... we have had some unseasonably warm weather the past week. Back to winter now.
Love your work in both AC and Endicott area. I went to UE and graduated in 89 and moved to the AC area in Jersey years later where I remain today. Thanks for doing what you do.
I worked in security at one of those IBM buildings in the early 90’s as a 20 something in college so I love these updates
Good day sir and yes you are right School and the area that you said where they held banquets in like that is actually the lunch room and the Passover Bridges were for taking and transporting materials that were being built their from one department to another and there are underground tunnels that do connect the building's also. Now the brown round cylinder you seen in that space between the buildings with the silver top that is a water monitoring well where they would pull samples to see if there are contaminants seeping into the groundwater that does supply Endicott. They are all throughout that part of the region as you walk around through the neighborhoods you would notice them
My father worked in Endicott at IBM until he passed away from a stroke in the 1990's. I have driven by those buildings many times. I wonder what the 'school' building is used for now, it looks in pretty good shape. If I remember it has IBM engraved on the front. He also worked in Poughkeepsie and tells of when IBM had a dedicated airplane just to fly employees to and from Endicott and Poughkeepsie. To bad they don't put a plaque up in front of the building telling everyone what was here, and the birthplace of IBM.
I worked there from 1978-2002 in Facilities Services. Most of that time in Facilities Maintenance. It is indeed sad to see the “Old BLDG Group” being demolished. My offices and shops were located there. The bldgs were originally built as manufacturing space and were completely remodeled in the 80s and 90s. They were in good shape until the site was sold. The engineering and maintenance staff did an outstanding job of operating a 4M sq. Ft. Site for about $50M/yr back in 2002. For contrast the 3M sq. Ft. Fab in Burlington spent $130M/yr and the Fishkill 5M sq. Ft. Site spent $150M! To all of those who worked in iBM Endicott Facilities Services, I salute you. 😊
I moved away from the area in 1994, but so clearly remember how busy and vibrant Endicott used to be. It's sad to see the old IBM buildings in such a decrepit state. Thanks for keeping us updated.
I worked there in the 80's, when thousands worked there and Washington ave was full of people and every storefront was busy. It all started to decay in the 90's.. I left in 1998 before it got worse.
Worked there in 1979…did QC inspection on integrated ceramic substrate chips. Little 1x1 inch printed circuit boards.
Really sad to see these buildings coming down. I worked in that first building being demolished known as building 4, on the first floor in the rear of the building back in 1997. The decline of IBM in Endicott was very evident during the decade of the '90s'. I also worked in Building 25 located at the corner of North St. and Mckinley Ave. Very fond memories of an era long gone.
I used to drive a forklift for Manpower in the early 2000's. Had a lot of fun zooming through the buildings picking up and delivering freight. I remember building 18 was the scary chemical place. The walls had literal patches of green discoloration from the circuit board etching chemicals.
I work in Building 18. It's been fixed up a lot, but there are still sketchy parts (like the paint peeling in sheets off the hallway ceilings).
From paper punch cards and tape storage to AI ,
Your drone skills are awesome.
Thank You!
On the topic of the space between the buildings and why there are several rather narrow buildings. At the time they were built (1920's) air conditioning was not available. Where the glass block windows are there were glass tilt-out windows that were for natural light and ventilation. If the IBM Museum material was still in Endicott (instead of in a warehouse in Poughkeepsie) you could see pictures of the interior of these buildings taken shortly after they were built. I'm thinking specifically of a picture of the cabinet shop where they built cabinets for very early tabulating equipment as well as office desks and chairs.
@@cliffbays5913 that makes sense
One of my highlights when I had a meeting in Endicott was seeing these buildings and I remember the school house. I was impressed by the sheer size of the buildings.
I worked at IBM from 1983 to 2021, in the Glendale Lab from 1983 to 1992, then building 256 from 1992 to 1995, then building 57 from 1995 to 2005, then back to building 256 until I retired. So I never worked in any of these buildings that are being demolished, though I did pass through them several times before they were closed (2002? I forget). When General Electric demolished many buildings in Schenectady 30-40 years ago, they allowed the public to salvage bricks. Due to the certainty of asbestos contamination, there's no way any salvage will be allowed here.
I worked evenings in one of those big white buildings during my 2nd year in college. Walked through one building from where we parked, to get to one of those bridges between buildings to get to our place in another building. Earned $1.75 an hour -- the most I'd ever made at that point -- which was about 50 cents an hour above minimum wage, so you know that was a long time ago. I repaired printed circuit boards, which were much larger than the laptop I use now. A computer was about the size of a really big refrigerator back then.
Had many suppers in the IBM cafeteria across the street. Food was pretty good.
Worked facilities maintenance at IBM Endicott for 30 years. Put many hours in those old buildings, That was added as an emergency exit stairwell. I am very curious about the underground tunnel that goes from the old powerhouse to building 47 under the railroad.
yeah wonder if they will just fill it in with dirty or concrete or something
Very sad to see how the buildings have deteriorated, but wow they are an eyesore now, especially when looking from above. Be interesting to see what happens to that space. I started with IBM back in 1984 in Owego until they sold us to Loral in the early 90's and then to Lockheed Martin.
I was hired at IBM as a high school intern in 1979-1980. I believe I worked in building 14, which I remember as one of the newish buildings during that time. I used to have to walk the length of all those buildings to get to the "repro" center to make copies of tons of documents. My mother also worked for IBM in Endicott.
I worked at the tech library in one of the "new" IBM buildings back in the day....
3:54 those are the doors where I was offered my first eng job out of college in 1981 .. $23,500 starting salary. Worked there 17yrs, and HATED IT.
A bad work place is the WORST.
@@fgpalm it was worse than bad ... all the chemicals in the air and ground... it was an environmental & work hazard. Management routinely sent bad performers to building 18 to work on the open bath plating lines, as punishment, while joking about how people would die from cancer there.
I had a house located within the IBM groundwater contamination zone .. after 15yrs of ownership, I got 1/2 what I paid for it. I had to take money to the closing.
@ that’s awful
Worked at Endicott IBM 1979 to 1990. Remember hundreds of IBM employees with badges at lunch time walking the streets. Went back to the area in 2010 for a trip and it was completely empty and quiet. SO SAD
It's sad to see IBM gone. To bad the village wouldn't give them a tax break to keep them here. When they left endicott went down hill over night
Dad was proud of laying those glass blocks
IBM =
In Blessed Memory 😮
I appreciate you and thank you for making content.
I worked from 1963 till 1991 and took advantage of that first fat buyout and a full pension at age 53. I thank everyone here for your fantasy stories.
Sorry make that fantastic stories.
I worked nearby as an IBM College Coop in 1984 and then worked at IBM in Vermont for 39 years retiring last year. I remember that 1991 fat payout and the people taking that buyout from Lou Gersner were ecstatic! Fat buyouts and Pensions are no more for sure.
My dad work there from the mid 60s then was transferred to Owego mid 70s im guessing
Sad to see, so many places gone, GAF, E-J, Kroehlers, GE
So sad my dad worked in one of the to be demolished buildings in the 80's and 90's. I worked in building 18 as a summer intern back in the early 00's. It's sad to see it go, hopefully something can be built there and it not just be a vacant lot.
At the pace that operator is running that machine . They 're gona be there a hell of a lot longer than 4 months .
they have two other smaller dozers on site, drove by today and they were munching away at the old loading docks.
Sad to see them destroy it. It should've been preserved as not only American history but also technical history. Damn shame.
Were you going to pay for this continuous preservation? We don't need empty useless concrete monuments to a past that even IBM doesn't care about.
Damn thats wild. I always assumed that building would be there for another couple decades before it was torn down lol.. I'm pretty sure our senior prom was at the McKinley.
only the buildings on the north side of North Street and East of McKinley Avenue are coming down
That would be a long reach excavator, Frank.
Worked there from 1969 to 1997, Part of the delay was probably asbestos removal where possible like in the old power house at the rear of the complex between the RR tracks and the front buildings. Spent many hours working there.
Bummer! This reminds me of the IH/Navistar Melrose Park Works. Although Melrose Park was beautifully maintained until the end.
My dad use to work there and i was thought that they would stay there when i was a little girl
Feels wrong to give a thumbs up, but that's for you, Frank. Not for the event.
Thanks for this last look.
The bldg with the clock is bldg #32. It was the original engineering bldg.
Thanks Frank, lots of history there. Say Donna Lupardo there and Endicott Mayor Nick Burlingame on Dec 31st. Will take a few months to complete.
What a nightmare losing IBM Endicott turned out to be. I guess what remains is occupied and productive. So all is not lost.
Would be nice to recycle those glass blocks and build a house out of those.
The building you are calling McKinley, was the cafeteria that name McKinley had nothing to do with IBM.
Nice job. Thanks
sometimes my teeth hurt but when i watch ur videos they hurt alot worse thank u franklin
So sad…brings tears to my eyes.😢
My dad worked in personnel in the old farmers bank in Union, then in Glendale lab, then the main plant. 13 years I worked at the main plant 74 to 81, temporary assignment in Owego plant, Westover temporary assignment. 81 transferred to Charlotte, took buy out 91. Also saw handwriting on the wall. Wow. Bottom line hope my retirement checks keep coming!
Remember my time hanging out endicott where my bLOVE cousins live there neighbors 1980’s 1990’s &early 2000’s…
Mark DelVillano R I P F …
This is actually a good thing. The Triple Cities has been in a time warp. Locals still think and act like IBM is in full swing and never got past it. Bingo can become a great place again, but gotta throw away the past and look forward
That is a stage boom arm demolition tracked excavator high reach digger
@@HGHONDO SBADTEHRD for short?
Still live near that! In Vestal
Thanks for documenting this. Micron in Syracuse in ~50 years? Maybe less?
As much as I hate that this is happening it's long past time for this.
Wow, really looking forward to another empty lot in Bing area! Fabulous if some BEAUTIFUL low income housing was created here, we need to get those freezing unhoused people and their children into some decent housing. And affordable housing for working class people, senior citizens. LET'S CREATE SOMETHING USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL HERE FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED IT!
Wasn't there a big shoe manufacturer up there as well??
Endicott Johnson shoes ....everyone just called them "EJ". The slogan "which way EJ" was commonly asked by immigrants coming to work in the factories up here.
Thank you. I used to manage a division for a company i worked for, in Upstate NY in the 90s and I had a technician who lived up there. He was IBM but had been laid off and he did a good job for us. Very interesting town, I'd only go up a few times a year and it would be in the summer and fall because it was so beautiful. Had some guys over in Rochester and Buffalo. Kinda miss those road trips. Head up to Canada for a night out. Golf at some really spectacular courses. Saw the PGA up there. Nice. Endicott seamed like it was becoming a ghost town even then.
Where are they going to put all the asbestos and toxic chemicals imbedded in those sites?
I don’t know who you are, but I was wondering what you were doing outside of that building the one day when I drove by I guess now I know
I do work very often in these building. The lack of maintenance is bad. They put band aids on everything. When IBM was in there Things where taken care of around the clock. No way they can build any new building on these sites. I would think the DEC would never allow it. Considering all the issues already with the IBM Plume.
Those glass block windows could be recycled.
Did you a boardwalk and pacific Ave walk of AC? You seem familiar.
Yeah same channel from back in August…it was me
Why was I not told about this ..... I would have corme visit home. I'm from Elmira and it's not far from bingo town. The IBM office building with the IBM meaning safed??
Corning Inc black buildings you can see from 86 is empty. My aunt worked at the diesel plant in Addison. My mom told me that the offices were empty when I went home for Xmas Day.
So sorry i wanted to state fantastic stories. Damn auto fill ins.
In addition to the cat walks that connect the buildings there are also under ground tunnels that connect them including one that goes under north street
Did you know that Janis Joplin worked at IBM? 😊
End of an era!
Really have to wonder if Environmental and asbestos testing has been done. Not sure I’d trust if not done by an independent third party firm. Have done a lot of demo and those old bldg are full of asbestos in the window mullings and floor tile. Would also suspect any old pipe insulation.
That's so Sad
They don’t drive the speed limit where you are either. I thought Virginia Beach was unique for its terrible drivers.
Seems like such a waste of building buildings that could be renovated for housing.
How's the cancer rate in the area? is it elevated like other IBM locations?
08:28 Imagine if they were able to be rehabbed instead and that red brick was now visible. They would be beautiful.
Definitely a lot of lost opportunity… Personally, I wonder if some of it couldn’t have been converted to housing if the condition was better
@@fgpalm Between the asbestos and all the chemicals IBM used, I wouldn't want to live in any of those buildings. And I wonder what's in the soil around there.
I predicted that IBM someday would be out of business!!!! (I was 9 or 10) I grew up not too far away and all I heard was how great IBM was. Years of hearing they never get rid of anyone!!!!
Then the bottom fell out!! Pink slips were handed out and my prediction came true. So glad to see this eyesore and toxic site go down!!! Happy days are here again for all the shit head IBM’ers!!!! Glad I moved from the shit hold of the world!!!!
If there was possible asbestos the demolition should have been tented. Regardless, it couldn’t be one bit safe for the many people in the parking lot watching it.
Since we're all watching this interesting video on a phone or some other type of computer, it's safe to say they are still being manufactured, just not in Endicott, NY. Most of the comments are from people that moved away. Did you move away because you didn't like the area or more likely because the jobs left the area. My point is when will people like Jason Garner learn that it's the over regulation by gov't along with absurd energy costs, in spite of being in a municipal elect dist, that made these buildings empty and caused the manufacturing to move.
We could bring manufacturing back if officials would take their foot off the throats of entrepreneurs trying to start businesses. Start with 2 well intentioned but very costly regs of minimum wage and the Americans With Disability Act. Both do more harm than good to small business. IBM was a small business before it became a big business.
Jobs didn't "leave" the area. Corporate boards decided that much more money would accrue to CEOs and shareholders by moving jobs overseas (thanks to LACK of regulation), where workers are paid far less than Americans because the standard of living is much lower there. Cutting minimum wage and reducing opportunities for the disabled won't affect that one wit. Workers could easily be paid more if CEO salaries weren't hundreds or even thousands of times what workers are paid.
@@allenlutins As a past CEO of a company I can assure you, you're delusional. But you do have the correct realization that companies have to keep costs down in order to keep the sales price of their product or service low enough that people like you will choose theirs over a competitor who is working to keep their own costs down. The beauty and stress of free market capitalism.
I've sat with a CEO who was furious that he was having to move his electronic manufacturing company out of NY to Virginia because the costs of doing business here were causing him to lose contracts to competitors. He loved this area and loved his 32 employees.
I've worked with a CEO that hadn't taken a paycheck in many years while paying his employees what he could, hoping sanity would return to NY and our economy would return. He finally begrudgingly moved his business to Arizona.
I could go on with more examples of companies that had to move in order to compete with their competitors to stay in business, but you get the idea.
As for the ADA, it's based around people in wheelchairs. Less the 5 million (1.5%) people in this country are in wheel chairs and over 95% of those people are elderly in nursing homes, hardly looking for job opportunities. One example of idiocy is NYC spent so much money rebuilding all the city controlled apartment kitchens to fit wheel chairs that they could have built a completely new building and housed every person in a wheelchair in that building completely free for a fraction of what they spent on those new kitchens.
As for the min wage, ask yourself why companies like Walmart and Amazon are the biggest advocate of higher min wage, even though they pay a higher wage. It's because they can't compete with a small family business if that small business was allowed to set it's own wages and compensate employees in other ways such as meals or housing or with more convenient hours that the larger companies could never do because of the large number of employees needed.
The really sad part of this video is that the destruction of these buildings are probably being paid for by our gov't. because our economy is so bad they couldn't GIVE those buildings and grounds to someone free. In a booming economy some company would have jumped at those buildings to fix them up and use or replace. Just as Bing has torn down burned out or falling down homes and businesses. The properties remain vacant instead of being a growing economy where an empty lot is grabbed up and a home or business is built on it.
Socialism creates poverty, Capitalism creates opportunity. Always have and always will.
@@allenlutins As an ex CEO let me inform you about reality.
I've sat with a CEO who was very upset about having to move his company to Virginia. He was electronic manufacturing and competed with other manufacturers from around the country for work. He tried everything for a number of years before finally moving just to stay in business.
Another CEO went years without collecting a paycheck himself to stay in business but paying his employees hoping sanity would return to NYS and allow the economy to improve. He finally begrudgingly move it to Az.
I could go on but you get the point. Businesses have to compete with other businesses for work and it's not easy in a state like NYS. That's why more people are leaving than coming. Those leaving are the workers and entrepreneurs while those coming tend to be looking for hand outs. Not a sustainable society.
Tell someone trying to start their first business with no money that paying someone what they can afford as opposed to what some gov't official demands won't make a difference to the company succeeding. We need to start thinking of the startup entrepreneurs instead of the kids that won't use a condom and start a family before they can afford one.
The ADA is based around people in wheelchairs. Less than 5 million in this country(1.5%) are in wheelchairs and over 95% of those people are elderly in nursing homes. Hardly people looking for job opportunities or access to someone's business. NYC rebuilt all the kitchens in their controlled buildings to be wheelchair accessible. For a fraction of what they spent on that project they could have built a new wheelchair accessible building large enough to house every handicapped person in the city and let them live there rent free.
A CEO bought a building to expand his business out of his garage and the largest expense was replacing the bathroom with a handicap accessible room. It's been over 20 yrs and not one wheelchair has ever been in that over priced bathroom.
Socialism is a system implemented by a group of gov't officials telling you and me who we can do business with and under what conditions and has increased poverty every time throughout history. Free market capitalism is not a system put in place, rather it's the freedom of letting people do business with whom ever they freely choose at the conditions they choose. It has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system known to man.
@@allenlutins I've tried to reply to your post but the censorship on this is so bad it won't post.
It’s not just the CEO pay but also stockholders expectations for constantly growing profits that are the issue. Wall Street is what pushed all the manufacturing to China to lower costs because people over there are treated like slaves. Here we had unions for a while that improved worker conditions here, but those are fading lately.
You can thank NAFTA
they should repurposed those buildings for something else.
Too far gone sadly
Who's paying for the demolition?
I believe the state and county are sharing the cost through grants or something like that…
Government grants aka tax dollars.
😊
SAD