Endicott Visitors Center

About Endicott Visitors Center

Endicott Visitors Center combines a historical museum, gift shop, and community meeting space in a restored mansion. Visitors tour the three-story, sixteen-room residence originally owned by Julia and Alphonsus Bowes, who served as George F. Johnson's executive secretary. The building operated as a private home for thirty years before becoming known as "Old Colonial Hall." After World War II, Syracuse University acquired it for administrative use as the fledgling Harpur College expanded into what is now Binghamton University. Following the college's relocation in the mid-1950s, the building housed school district offices and later a church. The Village of Endicott purchased and restored it in 1994 to create this visitor center. Exhibits explain the origins of Harpur College, the Endicott Johnson Shoe Company's corporate history, and IBM's influence on regional development. The George F. Johnson Room details the "Square Deal" philosophy that made E-J one of the country's largest shoe manufacturers.