Endicott-Johnson Victory Building — Johnson City: public asbestos record and work-history research
This page starts with a specific public record, then separates what that record documents from what still has to be investigated about an individual person.
What the public record documents
A documented starting point
The NYSDEC remedial action work plan for the EJ Victory Building identifies asbestos-containing materials and dust among hazardous building materials associated with the existing building. The document is useful for building-history reconstruction, but its date and purpose matter.
What the Victory Building was
NYSDEC records identify the Victory Building as a historical factory building constructed around 1921 and used for most of its existence as an Endicott-Johnson shoe-manufacturing facility. That ordinary manufacturing identity is useful because someone may remember the building through shoe production, a floor or department, utility equipment, loading areas or nearby EJ landmarks rather than by the formal property name used in later environmental records.
Victory Building — memory anchors
Before 1919
The property had earlier industrial use associated with the Lestershire Lumber and Box Company.
Circa 1921
The factory building that became the Victory Building was constructed.
1919–1994
NYSDEC ownership records identify Endicott-Johnson Corporation as the long-term owner; the building was used principally for shoe manufacturing.
1990s–2000s
Ownership changed after the EJ era as the former factory entered a redevelopment period.
2021–2022
Brownfield remediation planning documented hazardous building materials and set out redevelopment controls.
What this record does — and does not — tell us
Documented
A NYSDEC remedial action work plan for the EJ Victory Building in Johnson City identified asbestos-containing materials and dust among hazardous building materials requiring public-health protection during redevelopment.
Scope
EJ Victory Building conditions and remedial planning described in the 2021 work plan.
Not established
A later redevelopment record does not by itself establish historical exposure conditions for a worker in an earlier period.
Questions that move the investigation forward
What years did the person work in or around the Victory Building?
Use the answer to narrow place, time, task, equipment and corroborating records.
Which floor, department, utility area or task is remembered?
Use the answer to narrow place, time, task, equipment and corroborating records.
Was maintenance, renovation, piping, electrical or mechanical work nearby?
Use the answer to narrow place, time, task, equipment and corroborating records.
What historical records can bridge the gap between later building findings and the person’s actual work period?
Use the answer to narrow place, time, task, equipment and corroborating records.
Primary source
Continue the reconstruction
Southern Tier research → Workplace Finder → Start with what you remember →