Ghosts in the Valley of Opportunity

Impromptu 2 mile long parade of Endicott Johnson employees celebrating the implementation of the standardized 8 hour work day, October 1916.

Photo courtesy of George F. Johnson Library

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gfjlibrary/4098760480/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Washington Avenue Looking North, Endicott, N.Y.

Postcard courtesy of The Endicott History Project

https://sites.google.com/site/endicotthistoryproject/zone-1—-downtown-endicott

Thanks to Damien Martin for putting this together.

Alonzo Roberson House, 30 Front Street, Binghmton, N.Y.

Part of Historical American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress), 1963

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny0470.photos.122105p/resource/

Broome County map from Atlases of the United States, 1838

Image courtesy of the New York Public Library archives

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=743567&imageID=1401744&word=broome%20county&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&sort=&total=104&num=20&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=31

Broome County, N.Y. atlas ,1876

Print courtesy of New York Public Library archives

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1060098&imageID=1575953&total=99&num=0&parent_id=1059897&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&sort=&imgs=20&pos=1&snum=&e=w

City National Bank (built 1923), Court and Washington Streets, Binghamton, N.Y. 3/30/13

Photo by Jason House

I picked up this pair of Florsheim combat boots at Stephen’s Vintage Clothing this weekend. These were locally produced as a subcontract through Endicott Johnson. The date code reads 5/27/47.

Update: My Dad (a former EJ worker himself) suggested that the date may actually be 1967, which would make them Vietnam era. It’s hard to tell for sure really. I’ll see if that may help track down their origins. There doesn’t seem to be much info on Florsheim combat boots. More info and pictures to come.