BINGHAMTON, NY: The city that made me fall in love with cities

[Cirrus]

Binghampton, NY
Municipal population: 47,000
Urban area: 158,000
Metro area: 247,000
177 miles from New York City, 140 miles from Albany, 199 miles from Buffalo. 61 miles north of Scranton, PA.

Unless you've lived in the northeast, odds are you've never heard of Binghamton. Especially if you're not a city nerd. When I was 14 years old I certainly had not. But on a family road trip to Cooperstown to see the baseball Hall of Fame, our car broke down and my father got off the highway to buy a part, and we drove through here. Right through downtown.

Craning my neck up staring out our minivan window, Binghamton completely blew my mind. Look at its architecture! Look at its urbanity! In a place smaller than my childhood suburb! A place too small and inconsequential for me to have even heard of.

Seeing this place for just 5 minutes through a car window expanded my thinking about what cities could be more than almost anything from my youth. Maybe my life. Binghamton has owned a special corner of my brain and heart ever since.

Last summer on a road trip from Albany we happened to be passing through Binghamton, and we had extra time in our schedule. So I pulled us over to investigate. And it did not disappoint! What a joy it was to walk around and experience it without that windshield between us. See for yourself.
























Bit of a street fair
























WTF Binghamton. Don't ask me to explain it.

[Cirrus]

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[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures! I also stopped in Binghamton on my way to Cooperstown. I stayed the night by SUNY Binghamton and explored Downtown before heading to my destination. It was 2009, because the Phillies had won the World Series in 2008, and each winning team gets a display in the Hall of Fame until the following summer, so that was an extra incentive to see a place I wanted to see anyway.

I don't remember that International building. I like it, actually. The space in between makes it interesting. It also seems like a predecessor to the condo building in Miami with the cutout made famous by the "Miami Vice" opening credits.

A lot of those Southern Tier towns are pretty nice. I really only see the ones from Corning on west, because of my route through central Pennsylvania to Buffalo, but even the smaller towns are interesting.

[Cirrus]

I've never made it to Corning but hear it's pretty nice.

[mrnyc]

nice pix — my brooklyn friend got married and moved to bing’n, so i have been out there to visit. the downtown is a bit oddly laid out, but interesting and nice with a few restaurants and nightlife. after that it gets a bit rougher around the edges. they live by the college in vestal, which is quiet suburbia.

[202_Cyclist]

Thank you for posting. The photos are great, especially the panoramic photos. We had a bike race in college in the outskirts of town but I didn't get a chance to explore the city. It looks like a nice small city.

[ColDayMan]

I always did like 20 Hawley and the Broome County Courthouse is always a treat.

[Serenade]

Shame that SUNY is on the other side of town and basically a burb. Could have been so much better integrated.

[Crawford]

Binghamton, while kinda depressed, has great bones and a very nice setting. Scenic and good neighborhoods. It was a massive mistake to build the university in the burbs, tho. Can you imagine downtown with a major university?

Corning, not too far away, is one of the best small cities in the U.S., and has a great downtown. And the museum in Corning is amazing.

[mrnyc]

nonsense, it was massively brilliant to build out suny from the small college it was already out in vestal. its hideous looking and god knows what beautiful downtown binghampton buildings they would have torn down to build it there instead. it was not a thoughtful era.

[JManc]

Been through there countless times but never really explored it because it reminded me of a less beat up Utica. Perhaps, I'll check it out one of these days.

[Murphy de la Sucre]

holy, man, you sure it's not birmingham al? cuz it really got exact vibes.

the historical buildings and office talls, cannot believe i never notice such existence of the city

[BnaBreaker]

I've been to Binghamton one time and it was... you guessed it... also on a trip to the baseball HOF in Cooperstown! haha

I was about twelve years old when my grandparents took me on that trip and Binghamton stood out in my mind because it looked so big and important for a place I had no idea even existed. We only stopped for lunch at Friendly's though, so it's great to finally see it up close and personal!

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by JManc

reminded me of a less beat up Utica.

It's way better than Utica.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I've never made it to Corning but hear it's pretty nice.

Corning is very pleasant and packs a good punch for a place of its size. There are a couple good museums there, and some landmarks that give it distinction.

I forgot to mention earlier, but there is a small tie-in between Wilmington and Binghamton. The Binghamton Rumble Ponies, their AA-level minor league baseball team, almost moved to Wilmington about 6-7 years ago. That would've moved Wilmington up a little bit in the minor league ranks. The downside of that, from a Delaware Valley perspective, is that the Blue Rocks would've been a Mets affiliate.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I've never made it to Corning but hear it's pretty nice.

Corning is great. The downtown is just a single street, but very healthy and the glass museum is great. Worth the drive up to Watkins Glen State Park too.

Need to check out Binghampton now too.. driven through, never stopped.

I love a lot of the nice little upstate towns. Great architecture and urbanism scattered all across the state.

[Cirrus]

Yeah, NY State is pretty wonderful.

When I was a kid, the town I grew up in wanted to build a clock tower, and they cited the one in Corning as their example. They still have not built it, but Corning has been on my list to see ever since (albeit as a low-priority).

[ChiND]

Upstate NY has really beautiful buildings. The geography is beautiful too.

[OhioGuy]

Looks good! There are several cities in Upstate NY I've been wanting to visit and this is one of them. Thanks for sharing these photos!

[geomorph]

Very nice coverage of this small gem I had not heard of.