The Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company ("E-J") was a prosperous manufacturer of shoes based in New York's Southern Tier, with factories mostly located in the area's Triple Cities of Binghamton, Johnson City, and Endicott. An estimated 20,000 people worked in the company's factories by the 1920s, and an even greater number worked there during the boom years of the mid-1940s when, helped by footwear it produced for the military during the war years, it was producing 52 million pairs of shoes a year. During the early 1950s, the work force was still approximately 17,000 to 18,000. Today, EJ Footwear, LLC operates as a unit of Nelsonville, Ohio-based Rocky Shoes & Boots, Inc.
Shoes, Boots, Rubber, Paracord, Welts, and related care products
20,000 (peak, c. 1920)
One of the E-J swimming pools was shaped in the outline of a gigantic shoe sole.
The Triple Cities contain a number of statues of the Johnson family, including Johnson City's statue of Harry L. Johnson (George F's youngest brother), and Binghamton's statue of George F. Johnson in the George F. Johnson Recreation Park, and, also in Recreation Park, the Harry L. Johnson memorial.
Endicott had En-Joie Park (with E and the J capitalized to evoke E-J). Each Triple Cities Parks contained a carousel called "merry go rounds" and they also contained playground equipment, a baseball diamond, picnic areas, a large swimming pool, and a band stand. During the summer the Endicott-Johnson workers band performed concerts every Sunday evening in Endicott En-Joy Park. There were also recreation buildings in Endicott and Johnson City, which contained subsidized bowling alleys in the basement and a large banquet room on the main floor. Retirement dinners were given on a regular basis in the recreation centers. Any employee could attend the dinners for $.25.
Charles F. Johnson Pool, Charles F. Johnson Park
Various roads and bridges refer to the Johnsons, including CFJ Boulevard in Johnson City, and the C. Fred Johnson Bridge over the (part of Expressway Route 201), which was named in honor of Charles F. Johnson (an older brother of George F.)
Susquehanna River
The word Ideal appeared in many places, including E-J's first (1901) factory in Endicott, Endicott's Ideal Home Library (contributed to Endicott by George F) and Ideal Hospital. The library was later demolished to make room for municipal facilities and relocated to George F's former mansion.
Various members of the Johnson family helmed E-J until outside management was brought in starting in 1957. By then, the company had begun a slow decline. The tanneries closed in 1968. E-J's medical department was not closed until 1969, and the plan to close the last of its shoe manufacturing plants in the Triple Cities area was not announced until April 1998.
The demise of the E-J was rooted in many economic changes. Its founding principles of valuing labor were threatened by the availability of cheap foreign labor and the rise of global shoemakers such as Nike. According to some sources, C. F. Johnson was a vehement critic of free trade, and believed that it was contrary to his glorification of the American worker. The demise of the company may also be attributable, in part, to bad business decisions, including the continuation of its focus during the 1950s on work shoes when the market for lighter, more stylish shoes was expanding and potentially more profitable.
In 1995, E-J was purchased by U.S. Industries, Inc. and its name was changed to EJ Footwear Corp., and its base of operations changed to Franklin, Tennessee. In 2000, EJ Footwear was bought out by Citicorp Venture Capital Ltd., a subsidiary of Citigroup.
Finally, on December 6, 2004, EJ Footwear agreed to be acquired by Rocky Shoes & Boots, Inc. EJ had previously been the sole licensee for Rocky's "Dickies" line of work footwear. According to its 2005 annual report, Rocky's sales more than doubled over 2004, largely reflecting this acquisition.
"Endicott Johnson closing last plant," (April 22, 1998, Business Section page 1E).
The Buffalo News
Gerald Zahavi, Workers, Managers, and Welfare Capitalism, sub-titled: The Shoeworkers and Tanners of Endicott Johnson, 1890–1950 (Copyright 1988, 0-252-01444-8, University of Illinois Press) - a history of E-J, focusing on its methods used to discourage unionizing.
ISBN
Gerald Zahavi, Life and Labor in a Corporate Community ~ An On-Line History of the Endicott Johnson Corporation (Chapter 1: The Endicott Johnson Corporation, 19th Century Origins):
http://www.albany.edu/history/ej/
William Inglis, George Johnson and His Industrial Democracy (Copyright 1955 by Huntington Press, Inc.; first edition copyright 1935)] - a glorified version of the company's history sponsored by the company.
Partner's All, subtitled A pictorial narrative of an Industrial Democracy (Copyright 1938 by Huntington Corporation)] - a glorified version of the company's history sponsored by the company and characterized on the frontispiece as A souvenir gift to the E.J. Workers from George F. Johnson.
Modern Manors: Welfare Capitalism Since the New Deal By , 1977 Princeton University Press (ISBN0691015708)
Sanford M. Jacoby
David L. Stebenne. (2005). The Journal of the Historical Society 5 (1), 47–77 - discussing IBM's employee benefits, and the role of Endicott-Johnson in influencing them.
IBM's "New Deal": Employment Policies of the International Business Machines Corporation, 1933–1956
of E-J factories from George F. Johnson Memorial Library.
Historical Photos
State University of New York at Albany.edu: Prof. Gerald Zahavi's History of Endicott Johnson Corporation Web site
West Side Neighborhood Association of Binghamton.org: West Side Recreation Park history + photo gallery
Official IBM chronology of its history in Endicott New York
