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New York - Binghamton Binghamton (845 alt.,47,380 pop.), largest Southern Tier city, Broome County seat, and metropolis of the Triple Cities, which include Johnson City and Endicott, is at the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers. All main approaches to the city lead to the courthouse square, hub of the city's business district. Here, within a four-block radius, are the principal stores, hotels, and theaters, housed for the most part in plain, three-story brick blocks. On the west side of the Chenango River is the chief residential section. South of Main Street are stately old homes and modern stone and brick dwellings set in spacious, landscaped grounds. Northward, is a large foreign settlement of Polish, Russian, and Czechoslovakian factory workers; to the east is a large Italian colony. The significant co-operation between capital and labor, established in the early days of the shoe industry, has been reflected in all channels of the community's business, social, and educational life. Roundtable conferences between workers and employers promoted employment stability, which in turn contributed to a high ratio of home ownership. Little is known of the Binghamton area before the Revolution. The site was ceded to the whites by treaty at Fort Herkimer in 1785, and was sold in 1786 to William Bingham, a Philadelphia merchant. Joseph Leonard, first permanent settler, built his log cabin near by in 1787, and was soon joined by other pioneers, who called the new settlement Chenango. The following year Joshua Whitney learned that a bridge was to be built across the Chenango River near its confluence with the Susquehanna. At his suggestion a 'chopping bee' was organized, and land near the designated bridge site was cleared of timber. Several buildings were moved from the old village and the new settlement was called Chenango Point. In 1816 the first stagecoaches began weekly trips from Newburgh and Owego. Later the name was changed to Binghamton in honor of Bingham, who made liberal donations of land to the settlement. In 1834 Binghamton was incorporated as a village. Completion of the Chenango Canal in 1837, establishing an important link between the coal regions of Pennsylvania and the Erie Canal at Utica, began an era of progress in transportation and industrial development. During this period the manufacture of photographic apparatus was begun by the E.& H.T.Anthony Company, progenitor of the Agfa-Ansco Corporation. In 1848 the Eric Railroad brought direct connection with New York and shortly thereafter with Buffalo and the Great Lakes. In 1851 the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad opened the way into Pennsylvania, and was followed by the Delaware & Hudson, which established a direct route to New England. At the time of its incorporation as a city in 1867, Binghamton had a population of 11,000. Cigar making, its first important participation in manufacture for other than local consumption, was firmly established by 1870 and its rapid growth put the city in second place in the tobacco industry of the country. But the popular shift to cigarette smoking, combined with a cigarmakers' strike in 1890, caused a permanent slump. The manufacture of shoes, modestly begun in 1854 by Horace N. Lester and his brother George, developed into an industry that caused the founding of Johnson City and Endicott, brought a large-scale immigration of foreign factory workers, and resulted in the building of 22 factories, six tanneries, and two rubber mills located in Binghamton, Johnson City, Endicott, and Owego. Washington Street, Binghamton, New York Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com Hills, McClean and Haskins Store, Binghamton, New York Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com Courthouse, Binghamton, New York Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com