IBM in New York: start with the place you remember
“IBM” can point to very different New York histories. The Southern Tier story runs from Binghamton to the major Endicott manufacturing campus. The former Kingston facility—later TechCity, now iPark87—is a separate Hudson Valley site with its own EPA asbestos record.
Two different workplace branches
IBM Endicott and the Southern Tier
International Time Recording moved from Binghamton to Endicott in 1907. Endicott became the headquarters of C-T-R and a major IBM manufacturing, engineering and education center. Follow the campus history, operating periods and work-history questions.
Explore the Endicott dossier →Former IBM TechCity / Kingston facility
EPA identifies the 300 Enterprise Drive property as a former IBM production facility that operated for more than 30 years. Later demolition and abatement failures produced a documented asbestos cleanup record.
Explore the TechCity dossier →Binghamton, Endicott and Johnson City are connected—but not interchangeable
IBM's own history says International Time Recording relocated from Binghamton to Endicott in 1907. C-T-R's headquarters later moved to Endicott, and IBM records document manufacturing, laboratories and employee education there. Johnson City also had IBM-related institutional history, including the IBM Homestead, but that is not the same thing as the Endicott manufacturing campus.
A short IBM New York timeline
International Time Recording operated in Binghamton
IBM preserves factory letterhead and company history from the Binghamton period.
International Time Recording relocated to Endicott
IBM identifies the move from Binghamton to Endicott as a key step in the company's origins.
C-T-R formed; IBM emerged
C-T-R was incorporated in 1911, with headquarters moving to Endicott. The company adopted the International Business Machines name in 1924.
IBM 650 development and production
IBM says the 650 was announced from its Endicott laboratory in 1953 and documents production activity in Endicott during the 1950s.
IBM sold its interconnect-products operations
IBM's 2004 annual report records the 2002 sale of its Endicott interconnect-products operations to Endicott Interconnect Technologies.
Former Kingston facility became TechCity; EPA later addressed asbestos
EPA says the former IBM production facility was sold in 1998 and rebranded TechCity. Improper abatement and demolition in 2015–2016 later led to federal asbestos response actions and a 2022 cleanup agreement.
If your family remembers IBM, these details are useful
What this research does—and does not—establish
The sources below establish parts of IBM's corporate, facility and environmental history. They do not establish that every IBM workplace contained asbestos, that every worker encountered it, or that a particular person's disease was caused by work at IBM. The TechCity record is different because EPA directly documented asbestos-containing material associated with later demolition and cleanup at that property.
Primary and authoritative sources
- IBM — International Time Recording Company history IBM historical source
- IBM — The origins of IBM IBM historical source
- IBM — The IBM 650 IBM historical source
- NYSDEC — Former IBM Endicott document repository Government records
- NYSDEC — Former IBM Endicott Site, April 2025 Community Update Government update
- EPA — TechCity Site (former IBM Facility), Town of Ulster Primary government source
- EPA — 2020 TechCity asbestos cleanup Primary government source
That is enough to start.
Approximate years, a town, a building nickname, job title or product line can help distinguish one IBM history from another.