Center for Technology & Innovation, Inc., 321 Water Street, Binghamton, NY 13901, Telephone: 607-624-1090
Endicott Johnson Company
EJ introduces Spikeless Golf Shoes in the US, per Harold McGowan, CEO
Stories from the En Joie Golf Course by Alex Alexander, Joe Caldwell,
Bill Dennis,
Lou Karedes & Joe Nestor
Sal Poliziano pays tribute to Endicott Johnson
Melvin Dubofsky, Emeritus Professor of History, Binghamton University
19th. c. Origins of EJ (1984, 2009)
Gerald Zahavi, Professor of History, University
of Albany
The Making of New Americans
EJ Workers Review, Vol 1. No. 11, 11/1919
The Endicott Johnson Company was founded in 1881. By World War I, EJ was the world’s largest shoe manufacturer, employing as many as 30,000 workers in several dozen factories along the New York - Pennsylvania border. The villages of Endicott and Johnson City were named after two early EJ presidents, Henry B Endicott, a wealthy Boston leather merchant, and George F. Johnson, friend of FDR and EJ president until his death in 1951. EJ made all of its rubber footwear and much of its leather footwear in Johnson City. Nestled in hemlock and chestnut forests, Endicott was the tannery center for EJ from the early 1900s until the 1960s.
EJ practiced industrial democracy in which treating workers well was not only a standard management practice, but also a successful rebuttal to unionism. EJ pioneered the 8-hour work day and provided employees affordable housing, medical services, and a wide range of recreational opportunities. Listen to stories about EJ by its last CEO, Harold McGowan, EJ managers and factory employees, and long-time village residents, on the History Works! 2008 - Johnson City and Endicott CD, sponsored by The History Channel’s Save Our History program. The History Works! CD is available throughout the Four County Library System, and selected tracks are available online.
