Johnson City, New York

The village of Johnson City is in the town of Union and is a part of the "Triple Cities" along with Endicott and Binghamton. Johnson City lies to the west of Binghamton on the eastern side of the town of Union.

History[edit]

Known as the "Home of the Square Deal",^[3] from the Square Deal given to all employees of Endicott Johnson Corporation, Johnson City was originally incorporated in 1892 as the village of Lestershire. In 1916, the village was renamed Johnson City in honor of George F. Johnson, who led the company that was by then known as Endicott Johnson. Much of Johnson City's history is rooted in the prosperity of the Endicott Johnson Corporation, and later in the prosperity brought by IBM in neighboring Endicott. However, the deindustrialization that occurred across the United States impacted Johnson City heavily. The loss of nearly all industry in the span of a couple decades left the economy of Upstate New York, and thus Johnson City, devastated and in recession, explaining in part the village's population decline over time.^[2] Over the past decade, new revitalization efforts led by the expansion of United Health Services and Binghamton University have rejuvenated the area tremendously.


In January 2007, a group of residents organized a petition supporting dissolution of the village for tax reasons. A vote was held on November 3, 2009. On November 12, 2009, the results came back "no" for dissolution by just 42 votes.