Johnson City (New York) #AtoZChallenge

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Today is "J" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  Today, I will show you the third of the Triple Cities of New York State, Johnson City.  Despite its name, it is not a city, but a village of about 14,000 people. 

Years ago, Johnson City was an Endicott-Johnson (E-J) company town. Endicott-Johnson, at one time, was the largest manufacturer of shoes in the world.   If you are of a "certain age" you may remember Endicott-Johnson or Father and Son shoes.    As employers went, Endicott-Johnson went way above and beyond.  If you have a 40 hour work week, you (in part) have Endicott-Johnson to thank. 

 E-J provided free health care, and low cost housing for its employees, among many benefits.   It is a fascinating story, one I encourage everyone to read about.

But then....

Endicott-Johnson ceased to be American owned years ago, and it no longer manufactures any of its own shoes.  It hasn't had any facilities here for many years. But the Johnson name remains, so much so if something is named with initials (CFJ Park), or without a last name (Harry L. Drive), you know the name is a tribute to the Johnsons. (Charles F. Johnson, Harry L. Johnson).

Now, Johnson City is trying, like so many other small villages, to find its way back to prosperity.  Here's a post I wrote in 2016.  Since then, a pharmacy school has opened, and one can hope that better days are ahead for this village. 

Here we go with some photos.

This is the home of the late Charles F. Johnson (the ramp on the right was added more recently).  Today, this is a bank.
 

This is the former Goodwill Theatre in downtown Johnson City. This is being renovated.  I was able to go in there a couple of years ago. Due to the air quality I wasn't able to stay for long.

Here are some plans for urban renewal of the building.  COVID-19 has slowed the efforts.

Inside the children's library at Your Home Library, the public library in Johnson City.  Yes, this was once a home, and the building is also over 100 years old.  So is the library.  I plan to blog about it a little more later this month.

This picture (Main St. and Arch St.) was taken in 2014. You can see part of the downtown beauty that "once was".

One of the Depression-era murals inside the Johnson City post office.

Floral Avenue Park in Johnson City, New York has some beautiful murals near a small swimming pool (more on the pool a little later).   Some of these were created as part of a Mural Fest in 2018.

Here are some murals you can see from the road.  Some are close to a fence and I couldn't photograph without getting the fence.  At the time I took these photos (March 2021) the park was closed.

Doesn't that look like fun?   (See the little "pool play" towards the bottom left?)

Five years later, I wonder what has happened to those children.

If only the pool was that deep.

The pool will be renovated later this spring (it's been closed since 2018).  The original pool (not the one in use today) dates from the 1930's and is part of the legacy of the Endicott-Johnson corporation.  In fact, the original pool was shaped like a shoe.

Tomorrow, we will travel to the Finger Lakes for a couple of days.

"J" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme "New York State".