Johnson City is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Broome County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. The population was 15,343 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. 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

Known as the "Home of the Square Deal", from the Square Deal given to all employees of

Endicott Johnson Corporation 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 peop ...

, 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

, and later in the prosperity brought by

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

in neighboring Endicott. However, the

deindustrialization Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpr ...

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 Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, and thus Johnson City, devastated and in

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...

, explaining in part the village's population decline over time. Over the past decade, new revitalization efforts led by the expansion of United Health Services and

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

have rejuvenated the area tremendously. In January 2007, a group of residents organized a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

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.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the village has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.13%, is water. Johnson City is on the north side of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

. The junction of

New York State Route 17 New York State Route 17 (NY 17) is a major state highway that extends for through the Southern Tier and Downstate New York, Downstate regions of New York (state), New York in the United States. It begins at the New York–Pennsylvani ...

and New York State Route 201, which connects the community to the south side of the Susquehanna River, is in Johnson City. New York State Route 17C parallels NY-17. Johnson City is also located near multiple interstates, including

Interstate 81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 40, I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee, Dandridge, Tennessee; its nort ...

Interstate 86 (Pennsylvania–New York) Interstate 86 (I-86) is an Interstate Highway that extends for through northwestern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier region of New York (state), New York, in the United States. The highway has two segments: the longer of the two begins ...

, and

Interstate 88 (New York) Interstate 88 (I-88) is an Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of New York (state), New York. Nominally signed as an east–west road as it has an even number, it extends for in a northeast–southwest direction from ...

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2020, there were 15,343 people, 6,678 households, and 3,651 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 7,650 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 81.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5.9%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.3% Native American, 6.4% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.84% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 6.6% of the population. There were 6,678 households, out of which 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.7% were non-families. 40.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.88. In the village, the population was spread out, with 19.7% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. The recorded male-female ratio (as a percent) was 52% Male - 48% Female. The annual per capita income for a household in the village was $27,643, and the median income for a family was $39,241. Males had a median income of $31,980 versus $24,656 for females. Roughly 19.6% of the total population fell below the poverty line. As of the 2020 census, there were a total of 923 Veterans of Foreign Wars residing in Johnson City, with the most common war fought in being the Vietnam War.

Notable sites

Library

Your Home Library, founded in 1917, serves the village of Johnson City and the surrounding area. The library building was originally the old Brigham homestead, erected in 1850, and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2005.

Education

The K-8 Elementary, Intermediate, and Middle School is located just above the high school on 601 Columbia Drive; and the Johnson City High School is located on 666 Reynolds Road. The schools are operated by Johnson City Central School District.

Colleges

Davis College was a private Baptist bible college in Johnson City. It was founded in 1900 under the leadership of John Adelbert Davis. The first location was on Harrison Street where Wilson Hospital now stands. The present site was bought in 1910 and the college moved to Riverside Drive in 1911. The college had about 329 students. In September 2023, the property was sold to Birchwood Management Group. Baptist Bible College & Seminary was based at First Baptist Church in Johnson City from 1932 until it relocated to

Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania Clarks Summit is a borough in Lackawanna County, northwest of Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 5,108 at the 2020 census. It is also the northern control city of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension, I-476, th ...

in 1968. The

Decker health sciences campus is located on Corliss Ave, in the blocks bounded by Arch St, Broad St, and Willow St. Johnson City is also located across the

from

's main campus, which is in

Vestal, New York Vestal is a Town (New York), town within Broome County, New York, Broome County in the Southern Tier of New York (state), New York, United States, and lies between the Susquehanna River and the Pennsylvania border. As of the 2020 census, the pop ...

Notable people

* Danijal Brković, soccer player *

Fred Coury Fred Coury (born October 20, 1967) is an American musician best known as the drummer for the glam metal band Cinderella. Coury lists Neil Peart, Peter Criss, Bobby Blotzer, John Bonham, Eric Carr, Tommy Lee and Tommy Aldridge as his drumming i ...

, drummer for 80s hair-metal band

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

Jerry D'Amigo Jerry Vincent D'Amigo (born February 19, 1991) is an Americans, American former professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), right winger. He is currently an assistant coach for the Elmira Aviators of the NAHL. He most recently played for HK 3 ...

, professional ice hockey player, graduated from Johnson City High School in 2009. * Howard G. Garrison, US Army major general * George F. Johnson, founded the

here. * Jim Johnson, professional baseball player, was born here. * DaQuan Jones, professional NFL player for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

, graduated from Johnson City High School in 2010. *

David Sedaris David Raymond Sedaris ( ; born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay " Santaland Diaries". He published his first col ...

, American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor.

References

External links

Village of Johnson City official website
* Gerald Zahavi, "The Endicott Johnson Corporation:19th Century Origins": https://www.albany.edu/faculty/gz580/ejhistory/origins.html {{authority control Villages in New York (state) New York (state) populated places on the Susquehanna River Binghamton metropolitan area Villages in Broome County, New York Populated places established in 1892 Company towns in New York (state) Ukrainian communities in the United States 1892 establishments in New York (state)