We had a summer house outside of Accord NY from the late 60s to the mid 90s. I remember IBMs presence in Kingston and the impact after they left; especially the unemployment. This only compounded the economic situation in Ulster county when Channel Master/Imperial Chrade shuttered in Ellenville a few years before. Both towns suffered and coincidentally. IBM and CM moved to NC. Such a shame. (PS I ended up an IBM tech on S/3090's, AS400's and the I'll fated PS/2...) Thanks for your retrospective on IBM and its aftermath. *PS parts of it are being demolished for an EPA remidation and repurpose
Resident of Saugerties here. The parents of IBM'ers enrolled their kids in public school for the most part. When they lost their employment, there was definitely ancillary fallout. Why would Mario Cuomo refuse a tax credit to IBM, which was known to have been in financial distress at the time? Because the typcial IBM'er was an educated Reagan conservative Republican, and I'm sure Mr. Cuomo consulted the voter rolls. One thing you don't mention, though, is that the reason IBM Kington exists was to avoid the NYC Port Authority point-of-origin tax. I was told that Poughkeepsie was within the radius where the port authoity still had jurisdiction to levy export tarrifs. But Kingston was far enough away that they avoided the Port Authority tax. So Mr. Cuomo may also have had a case of hemorrhoidal pain over that lost tax revenue as well. I have to laugh when I see videos about Amazon's spheres, or Apple's campus or some other tech company putting on airs to look green or innovative. They can't even hold one ounce of fart gas to this sliver of what IBM's total economy managed. They didn't miss the PC market, they simply couldn't conceive of managing a retail operation. And they were right. The amount of managerial ineptitude was staggering. I worked for IBM in NYC in the 1990s post implosion, and everything way CYA all the way. At that time, they were "innovating" in nano-tech, but they couldn't manage to get Lotus Notes to send email from a handheld device. Those projects were "make it or break it" and the smart money knew to avoid them IMHO, meaning the people who opted to run them were short timers who would play hot potato with them. Look what they did to Lotus. So many possibilities to turn Lotus Notes into a bona fide operating system that would approximate where microsoft is now: a database cow pile in the cloud where you can't find or organize anything. But is was "ahead of its time", meaning slow and constantly crashing on average hardware specs. In the end they were giving it away for free with Thinkpad laptops. Then they donated the codebase for the office suite to OpenOffice and Microsoft heard: "cha-ching". Anyway, in my tenure, we were given targets like in a socialist planned economy. We had to "innovate" to meet them because it was impossible otherwise. So we integrated large scale off-shore software development contracting to India. No joke, that was IBM's lasting gift to the economy - sending high tech overseas. OK, not going to prattle on.
They would hire brilliant people, but if they had a great business idea, it would have to go up thru several layers of mgmt, would die along the way. I believe several companies were created by ex ibmers and made ton of money as competitors
I worked there from 1989 to 1992 before lucky enough to get a transfer to Austin. The glitters wore off when they started laying off people. A few years later they got rid of the pension. Many of us bailed out then because we finally realized that loyalty doesn’t go both ways. The best decision I made was quitting IBM for a startup
worked on 308x and 3090. Lived in Port Ewen. 1985-1992. Great time going to IBM country club in Po-town. Started as a mainframe tech then to system programmer. On the IBM golf league , lots of education trips to Florida during spring break. Trained jn NCU and NCUA maintenance in Mn. Thought the gravy train would never end. But hay, in one year I retire with IBM retirement pension for rest of my live. Old School.
I worked for IBM (Spain) 2010 to 2018, I heard that around 1992-1993 IBM was on the verge of bankruptcy, then Lou Gerstner straightened the situation a bit
My Father worked at the poughkeepsie plant for the time then moved to the Ulster plant when it opened. He was in charge of the SAGE system for the US Military. He eventually moved to IBM Headquarters on Madison ave in NYC. I could go on for days about stories. One trivia question I will give out is when you drive around the building You will notice large rocks ringing the entire perimeter around the complex then there is the gates that open. does anyone know why they were put there?....any employees know? I do know the answer but it was a top guarded secret that most of the employees still dont know.
I remember when they put them there. It was after a truck ran into a building. I can't remember the date, but it was to make sure no one crashed into IBM.
@@mylifein75sqft87 One of the secretaries was having affair with her Boss it was the husband that drove the vehicle into the front...he called prior and said he was going to kill him....they met over at Golds Gym which was the big hook up spot for IBMers My father ws on the phone that night talking to the Office in Manhattan and down in North Carolina. I hd a school friend who worked at the plant and his wife worked in another division from him she was having a affair also the parents were close friends of my parents....he was on the verge of doing the same ...but he stopped short. His brother owns a business today on rt 28
I worked there 83-87. I have great memories, many similar to yours, and also have similar feelings to yours about it as well. Thanks for your video and commentary. It hit home.
My Dad Worked for IBM in Kingston for 30+ years. He Still lives in the Kingston Area. Tis where im from too and grew up. Until I moved away down to Virginia 15 years ago.
I wonder if I know you Dad. I know so many people that moved out of Kingston. When I was there this summer, there are so many new people there from NYC.
Hi Bob, Worked there also... Thanks for the memories! Hired in 82 left in 90. (Some of the time in Poughkeepsie) mainframe tech 3080/90. Wow, Lake Katrine Apartments!!
Hi Mike, I was 2nd shift management in Kingston, I think bldg 008 (the one in the back), from 1980-82. Then I went into programming until 1995. Yeah, Lake Katrine apartments. We probably have done if the same friends. Thanks for commenting
@@mylifein75sqft87 it's been many years since being back... Hope to take a trip back at end of summer ( God willing) after moving back to Michigan 30 years ago, will visit there and Poughkeepsie plant... You helped prepare me for what I will see!! Safe travels always!
I started as a programmer at IBM Kingston in 1973. My office was in a trailer behind the 201 Bldg. We were still punching cards. That summer, I pulled an over-nighter to finish a program. I would walk my card deck across Neighborhood Rd. (no overpass back then), to the main computer center in Bldg 003. Even at 3 AM, the main aisles were as crowded as Times Square at rush hour. What a thrill to be part of a powerful corporation!
@@mylifein75sqft87 201 is the 2 story building on the west side of Neighborhood Rd across from the clock. 202 is the 4 story building just north of 201. I could be wrong about the computer center because once you got on the main aisle you couldn't tell one building from another. IBM Kingston was a BIG facility!
Thank you for putting this up. My dad worked at that IBM and I remember running around those buildings as a kid on weekend evenings when my dad needed to run by the office while we were out in Kingston. I remember some of those buildings. Thanks for putting this video up.
I'm glad you liked the video. I hope it brought back some good memories fur you. It's sad how some of those buildings are so run down now. I hope you check out my other videos as well. Take care.
@@mylifein75sqft87 I wish you could have gotten into the buildings to see what they look like today. I am extremely interested in the one with the borded up windows to see what that looks like now.
Who knows what it looks like. Probably hasn't been heated in a long time. I thought I was wheat doing to much by parking there the night before that video. Sad. Sad
@@mylifein75sqft87 To be Honest with you I wonder would happen If I just went over there and parked in the parking lot and just walked around. You know the main building on the left side of Enterprise drive the one with the clock on it is actually open and I think anyone can walk in there, They may ask me what my business is being there The other thing I wonder is the one that is all borded up who owns that or those buildings.
I'm not sure about anything there now. The guy who bought them from IBM have them to the town because it was too much for taxes. They are fit sale now as can be seen in my video. I'm sure you can go in the parking lot. I was able to walk around there.
I lived in Kingston until I was 20 years old. My relatives still live there. What a waste of good buildings that place is! But leave it to New York's *CONFISCATORY* tax structure and non-business-friendly regulatory policies to guillotine *THOUSANDS* of good-paying jobs that could have relocated into those buildings after IBM closed down. *DISGUSTING* This is why New York is *COLLAPSING* Many of the IBM Kingston jobs were sent to Raleigh and Boca Raton, and look at how those areas are prospering, whereas the Hudson Valley area is now *SKID* *ROW*
Hi Joey. I can understand that. After IBM left Kingston, I was sure it was going to become a ghost town. It is doing much better than I would have ever predicted. That's where I live now when I'm not in the road. Thanks for watching and commenting.
All those buildings, all those thousands of people working there every day, all the stuff they did and all the product they made... now just... gone. Saw the same thing in Essex Jct VT only they sold most of the place to Global Foundries, but they shut down a lot and laid off a lot of people long before that. The 'north lot' there which daily was filled with cars is now going back to nature, trees and plants growing up through the asphalt.
I worked jn po-town and talked to techs in Kinston in 92 and all the mainframes were shipping to warehouses. No customers! saw the writing on the wall took buyout and traveled Europe for 6 months. Should have sold all stock at top $170+, but kept sone as it crashed. Bad times watching company and community die.
It was hard watching IBM take the hits it received. I remember when they told us they had Apple on the ropes and they were going to get knocked out. Management couldn't have been more wrong. Look at where some is today.
Howdy Bob, many thanks for sharing yet another very interesting and informative video here which I watched with undivided attention as usual. Cordial greetings from William , on holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes
At the peak of activity at IBM, during the summer, the Recreation Center had great softball games starting at 9:45 PM! Then, if you won it all, you were invited to attend the Watson Trophy dinner with a guest speaker.
My softball teams won a few years. The most memorable speaker was Rocky Blier from the Pittsburgh Steelers. I had some of my best softball games ever under those lights.
Yes, I think we played on Walt's Team together and won... You used to cheer "Air-Con-dish!" when the other side whiffed..I still remember that... I was in center and left field... Richie O.
Dad ran a booming business in Kingston in the '50s and '60s alongside many pals hired at IBM who socialized and were service club partners and neighbors. Everyone knew IBM people! Then, a "group of politicians" hyper-taxed non-NYC New Yorkers to fund NYC's welfare world and forced the most productive demographic to points south. Including our family. And IBMers.
This is very interersting to see,. I always curious of what this place used to be. I lived in Kingston since I was 4 and I moved when I was 19. At one point I heard they was going to turn this place into another high school or a intergrated school with middle students. Im not sure what happend to that. In a way Kingston is a ghost town. You can see that in the empty mall, the vancant buildings as well as other closed businesses, The lack of jobs and programs for the youth. It only seems to be alive for 2 reasons in which one of them would be the life support that is genterifaction. More businesses are moving their operations from mostly the city to Kingston, employ cheap labor to make products to likley to sell online or to other businesses, and go home to one of their luxurious properties(not in Kingston). I know because I worked in 2 two of them. One of them interestingly was in the second warehouse that was shown, but thats a story for another day. The second reason is the high society tourist traps to attract those business. whether it is the city spending 15 million to put some pavement over train tracks and call it a historical trail or spending 100 dollars to eat food near some dirty water. The gist is the people who enjoy kingston, dont live in kingston. It was probably really amazing to have something there that was booming and a innovative thing people was happy to be apart of. I wish I coulld of been there to see the place I grew up more of lively place than it is now. In the end Kingston does have a lot of potential but New York in general will always be a husk of what it used to be.
My dad worked there, and I did a little bit of contract work in the 80s and was a member of the PC club which met in the cafeteria on the opposite side of the building the CU was in. It's a shame they pulled out of Kingston, the town has never really recovered. Strangely enough, he was another Pittsburg transplant, though about 10 years before you...
Wow. Small world. I wonder if I knew your dad. I imagine you and I never met or else you would have said something. I worked there until 1995. Houses in Kingston are now being bought up by people from the City (NYC).
@@mylifein75sqft87 His name was William Kaltwasser and I'm a Jr. He made his way to Kingston via a short stint in Poughkeepsie. We did move around a bit, Austin in 80 and Tucson 82-84 and 87-88, lived on East Chester St, and had a second place on a mountain top in Esopus, plus we had a duplex apartment just off Albany Ave that ended up home to a lot of temp transferees which IBM was famous for. He was primarily FE, but bounced around a bit, and Tucson was GPD, Austin was Mickey mouse stuff, in the bucket of Rust building lol.
I don't know him, but real coincidences. I went to church on East Chester st at Morningstar fellowship, I lived on the next street over from east Chester on Staples St, then moved up on a mountain in Ulster Park, next to Esopus. Small world
I happen to agree that the cookie monster wasn't that good for IBM. Mario Cuomo could have helped when IBM said if they didn't get tax cuts, they would be forced to close Kingston. Cuomo thought IBM was bluffing. Crazy times.
You sure know how to tell a story! I've just started my career and I have a software engineering offer from IBM Poughkeepsie. Right now I'm a programmer at a great little tech company that I LOVE. Not sure what I'm going to do.
Where do you live Jasmine. I have friends at IBM Poughkeepsie. I worked there also. It's a tough company to work for. What do they want you to work on? They do operating system stuff for mainframes there. If you want email me at: mylifein75sqft@gmail.com and we can talk about it.
Did you work in Kingston? I fixed mainframes then went into programming mainframes. Fixing then was fun because you had to understand both hardware and software and microcode. The 3080 series ended real trouble shooting, so I know it was time to do something else.
It's so true that our economy was based on IBM. Then the next Cuomo in succession closed down the Hudson River Psychiatric Center, so all of my beloved patients are now on the streets. So what we have a complete system failure. Have you noticed the hopelessness, drug addiction, mental health and homelessness in this area? So upsetting.
I went to work in IBM Kingston in 1964 and also worked in Poughkeepsie for a while but retired from IBM Kingston in 1992. I worked in the Order Department. In Kingston, we built the largest mainframe computers, the 3665, 3667, and 3675. The mid size 303X line was made in Poughkeepsie. www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP3031.html
thank CALPERS of CA for the closure. IBM didn't miss the PC market. All their PC people were killed in plane crash. IBM was closed because it was losing money with too much overtime, rehabs etc.
I was there. IBM came out with the PC way after the other companies. Exec management admitted it to us multiple times. They never thought people were going to want computers in their homes.
They made so much money selling mainframes in the late 70's and early 80's and wasted all that money. The upper level management missed out on so many opportunities. Crazy and sad.
Same as the Endicott/Glendale plants. After 30 years of neglect they are finally going to tear down half of the Endicott complex because it is literally crumbling - as a kid walking to high school I remember IBM sandblasting and painting those buildings every few years - haven't seen that in almost 40 years. How the mighty have fallen. Never was an IBMer but family members were and I remember how proud and loyal the workers that were eventually laid off were.
@@mylifein75sqft87 I worked in it from 1983 to 1990, then moved to a different building. You can still see it on Google Earth. The first floor had the connector to the clock building. Two wings of the second floor were a raised floor lab with separate, windowed rooms with monitors and tape drives for programmers -- only operators were permitted in the areas with the mainframes, disk drives (DASD), etc. The third floor was where I worked. It was all offices, secretarial stations that eventually went vacant and conference rooms. There was no floor above.
By the way, I enjoyed this video and your discussion. When I visited Kingston, I recall my friend talking about IBM pulling out and how bad it was for the area, and how many people were affected. Pretty sad. Spooky buildings - who owns that property?
I don't know because the guy who bought them couldn't pay the taxes, so he let the town have some of the buildings. It's a shame. Who is your friend, I might know him/her.
Great video, thank you How do you survive since then and till now? Did you leave the area? I'm sure not much to do for a programmer in such place now. It's very sad indeed. American manufacturing needs to be brought back home
Hi, I am sorry to hear that. I want to let you know that you are a great programmer. I read about IBM's history and it was the leader in the industry. IBM is just like other corporations, ran by management who made "business" decisions based on profit-making ideologies.
It was a sad, sad day when IBM closed the Kingston plant. It wasn't just the business decisions why IBM had problems. Surely if NY would have listened to IBM, they may have lowered the taxes and IBM Kingston would still be there. There were a lot of things that caused IBM to lose market share. IBM had Apple on the ropes, so many times, ready to go out of business. We all know what happened there.
My Life In 75 SqFt I was there a few times. It’s along some little river. Nearby is Roundout? I haven’t looked at a map, nor do I recall so well. But it seems to be a very sweet spot along the river.
Both. I included some of my history in it as well. It's a TH-cam video, not a documentary, if you get what I mean. No matter what, it's sad what happened to that place.
There’s no way you can put this video out there and not elaborate further on not just your career but the chance to have worked on IBM mainframes. You must go further on the IBM stories. This video was not long enough. Did not know the cuomo bit. Was that gerstner’s threat?
Yeah, I think Gertsner made the threat that came to life. Please let me know what other stuff you want me to do in another video. I have no problem. Also, sorry for getting back to you so late. I've been in the outback making some other videos. No cell anywhere around.
My Life In 75 SqFt Well I cant seem to find any one who talks about working there. Everything is such a secret so you’d be a pioneer on the topic so feel free to go on for hours about whatever. I’m a licensed electrician myself so I really like the technical stuff, development and process all that but I’ll take what I can get. I have a family member that worked in the services/ executive arm of ibm so I’ve heard a lot of about that and how they lost sight of the customer which is why they’re always in trouble. I work with a bunch of engineers that designed stuff at the East Fishkill/Essex junction and Yorktown facilities (Construction end of things ) and its just insane how much ibm spent of building things just for them to be unprofitable or turn around and let it sit vacant or sell it. Anyways bring on the stories. Lots of them please
House was a total loss? Insurance claim? did you ever rebuild? IBM and Research in Motion are lessons that no company can stay on top of the mountain forever.
We had a summer house outside of Accord NY from the late 60s to the mid 90s. I remember IBMs presence in Kingston and the impact after they left; especially the unemployment. This only compounded the economic situation in Ulster county when Channel Master/Imperial Chrade shuttered in Ellenville a few years before. Both towns suffered and coincidentally. IBM and CM moved to NC. Such a shame.
(PS I ended up an IBM tech on S/3090's, AS400's and the I'll fated PS/2...) Thanks for your retrospective on IBM and its aftermath. *PS parts of it are being demolished for an EPA remidation and repurpose
Been to Accord lots of times. They had a racetrack there. Thanks for watching!
@mylifein75sqft87 love the racetrack too! Thanks again for sharing your memories!
You're welcome!
Great video. I always wondered what their story was and that building in Kingston. Thanks !
Thank you!
Resident of Saugerties here. The parents of IBM'ers enrolled their kids in public school for the most part. When they lost their employment, there was definitely ancillary fallout. Why would Mario Cuomo refuse a tax credit to IBM, which was known to have been in financial distress at the time? Because the typcial IBM'er was an educated Reagan conservative Republican, and I'm sure Mr. Cuomo consulted the voter rolls. One thing you don't mention, though, is that the reason IBM Kington exists was to avoid the NYC Port Authority point-of-origin tax. I was told that Poughkeepsie was within the radius where the port authoity still had jurisdiction to levy export tarrifs. But Kingston was far enough away that they avoided the Port Authority tax. So Mr. Cuomo may also have had a case of hemorrhoidal pain over that lost tax revenue as well.
I have to laugh when I see videos about Amazon's spheres, or Apple's campus or some other tech company putting on airs to look green or innovative. They can't even hold one ounce of fart gas to this sliver of what IBM's total economy managed. They didn't miss the PC market, they simply couldn't conceive of managing a retail operation. And they were right. The amount of managerial ineptitude was staggering. I worked for IBM in NYC in the 1990s post implosion, and everything way CYA all the way. At that time, they were "innovating" in nano-tech, but they couldn't manage to get Lotus Notes to send email from a handheld device. Those projects were "make it or break it" and the smart money knew to avoid them IMHO, meaning the people who opted to run them were short timers who would play hot potato with them. Look what they did to Lotus. So many possibilities to turn Lotus Notes into a bona fide operating system that would approximate where microsoft is now: a database cow pile in the cloud where you can't find or organize anything. But is was "ahead of its time", meaning slow and constantly crashing on average hardware specs. In the end they were giving it away for free with Thinkpad laptops. Then they donated the codebase for the office suite to OpenOffice and Microsoft heard: "cha-ching".
Anyway, in my tenure, we were given targets like in a socialist planned economy. We had to "innovate" to meet them because it was impossible otherwise. So we integrated large scale off-shore software development contracting to India. No joke, that was IBM's lasting gift to the economy - sending high tech overseas. OK, not going to prattle on.
That's lots of info. I'm thankful you took time to watch the video and write such a detailed comment.
They would hire brilliant people, but if they had a great business idea, it would have to go up thru several layers of mgmt, would die along the way. I believe several companies were created by ex ibmers and made ton of money as competitors
I worked there from 1989 to 1992 before lucky enough to get a transfer to Austin.
The glitters wore off when they started laying off people. A few years later they got rid of the pension.
Many of us bailed out then because we finally realized that loyalty doesn’t go both ways. The best decision I made was quitting IBM for a startup
Good for you!
worked on 308x and 3090. Lived in Port Ewen. 1985-1992. Great time going to IBM country club in Po-town. Started as a mainframe tech then to system programmer. On the IBM golf league , lots of education trips to Florida during spring break. Trained jn NCU and NCUA maintenance in Mn. Thought the gravy train would never end. But hay, in one year I retire with IBM retirement pension for rest of my live. Old School.
I was a mainframe tech too, 3033. I did system programming then application programming. Our paths were similar.
I worked for IBM (Spain) 2010 to 2018, I heard that around 1992-1993 IBM was on the verge of bankruptcy, then Lou Gerstner straightened the situation a bit
Nice! As for Lou Gerstner (Cookie monster 🙂), I'm not sure because he was CEO when IBM went backwards.
Lou Gerstner ruined IBM, and Lou Gerstner stole my pension!!
My Father worked at the poughkeepsie plant for the time then moved to the Ulster plant when it opened. He was in charge of the SAGE system for the US Military. He eventually moved to IBM Headquarters on Madison ave in NYC. I could go on for days about stories. One trivia question I will give out is when you drive around the building You will notice large rocks ringing the entire perimeter around the complex then there is the gates that open. does anyone know why they were put there?....any employees know? I do know the answer but it was a top guarded secret that most of the employees still dont know.
I remember when they put them there. It was after a truck ran into a building. I can't remember the date, but it was to make sure no one crashed into IBM.
@@mylifein75sqft87 One of the secretaries was having affair with her Boss it was the husband that drove the vehicle into the front...he called prior and said he was going to kill him....they met over at Golds Gym which was the big hook up spot for IBMers My father ws on the phone that night talking to the Office in Manhattan and down in North Carolina. I hd a school friend who worked at the plant and his wife worked in another division from him she was having a affair also the parents were close friends of my parents....he was on the verge of doing the same ...but he stopped short. His brother owns a business today on rt 28
Awesome video Bob, thanks for tour.
Thanks Tom. Good to hear from you. Are you still in Kingston?
My brother worked there in those years. He often said everything you said. Best of luck.
Thanks. It's sad that it turned out this way.
I was a contractor at an IBM plant (Essex Jct VT) from '85 to '91 and boy was the money flowing then. Money money money, for everyone, for everything.
Yeah, it was like that in the end of the seventies. By 92/93, it was the beginning of the end of the money flow.
I worked there 83-87. I have great memories, many similar to yours, and also have similar feelings to yours about it as well. Thanks for your video and commentary. It hit home.
You're welcome Paul. Thanks for commenting. I hope you subscribed and clicked the bell and will come along for the ride. 🙂🙂
Very interesting video. This reminds me of AT+T in New Jersey....just like IBM. AT+T was King of NJ. We went through big and drastic changes too.
Sometimes it's hard to believe how a giant company like that could get so bad. Crazy
My Dad Worked for IBM in Kingston for 30+ years. He Still lives in the Kingston Area. Tis where im from too and grew up. Until I moved away down to Virginia 15 years ago.
I wonder if I know you Dad. I know so many people that moved out of Kingston. When I was there this summer, there are so many new people there from NYC.
Hi Bob,
Worked there also... Thanks for the memories! Hired in 82 left in 90. (Some of the time in Poughkeepsie) mainframe tech 3080/90. Wow, Lake Katrine Apartments!!
Hi Mike, I was 2nd shift management in Kingston, I think bldg 008 (the one in the back), from 1980-82. Then I went into programming until 1995. Yeah, Lake Katrine apartments. We probably have done if the same friends. Thanks for commenting
@@mylifein75sqft87 it's been many years since being back... Hope to take a trip back at end of summer ( God willing) after moving back to Michigan 30 years ago, will visit there and Poughkeepsie plant... You helped prepare me for what I will see!!
Safe travels always!
Thanks Michael. I'm glad you liked the video and it was helpful for you. Hope to see you when and if you come back.
I started as a programmer at IBM Kingston in 1973. My office was in a trailer behind the 201 Bldg. We were still punching cards. That summer, I pulled an over-nighter to finish a program. I would walk my card deck across Neighborhood Rd. (no overpass back then), to the main computer center in Bldg 003. Even at 3 AM, the main aisles were as crowded as Times Square at rush hour. What a thrill to be part of a powerful corporation!
I kinda forget were building 201 was. Want building 003 where they tested mainframes? I think that's where I tested mainframes. Those were the days.
@@mylifein75sqft87 201 is the 2 story building on the west side of Neighborhood Rd across from the clock. 202 is the 4 story building just north of 201. I could be wrong about the computer center because once you got on the main aisle you couldn't tell one building from another. IBM Kingston was a BIG facility!
It was the best. I wasn't in bldg 201 or 202 that much.
Thank you for putting this up. My dad worked at that IBM and I remember running around those buildings as a kid on weekend evenings when my dad needed to run by the office while we were out in Kingston. I remember some of those buildings. Thanks for putting this video up.
I'm glad you liked the video. I hope it brought back some good memories fur you. It's sad how some of those buildings are so run down now. I hope you check out my other videos as well. Take care.
@@mylifein75sqft87 I wish you could have gotten into the buildings to see what they look like today. I am extremely interested in the one with the borded up windows to see what that looks like now.
Who knows what it looks like. Probably hasn't been heated in a long time. I thought I was wheat doing to much by parking there the night before that video. Sad. Sad
@@mylifein75sqft87 To be Honest with you I wonder would happen If I just went over there and parked in the parking lot and just walked around. You know the main building on the left side of Enterprise drive the one with the clock on it is actually open and I think anyone can walk in there, They may ask me what my business is being there The other thing I wonder is the one that is all borded up who owns that or those buildings.
I'm not sure about anything there now. The guy who bought them from IBM have them to the town because it was too much for taxes. They are fit sale now as can be seen in my video. I'm sure you can go in the parking lot. I was able to walk around there.
I lived in Kingston until I was 20 years old. My relatives still live there. What a waste of good buildings that place is! But leave it to New York's *CONFISCATORY* tax structure and non-business-friendly regulatory policies to guillotine *THOUSANDS* of good-paying jobs that could have relocated into those buildings after IBM closed down. *DISGUSTING* This is why New York is *COLLAPSING*
Many of the IBM Kingston jobs were sent to Raleigh and Boca Raton, and look at how those areas are prospering, whereas the Hudson Valley area is now *SKID* *ROW*
You have some good points. The Kingston area is slowly bring taken over from NYC people moving up and buying real estate. It's a little crazy.
Thanks for the history of what happened. I was there from 77-80. Good video
This Tim. It's good that you found me. I'm glad you liked the video. Are you here in the states now?
I lived in Kingston for 2 years over 10 years ago and it was so depressing living there.
Hi Joey. I can understand that. After IBM left Kingston, I was sure it was going to become a ghost town. It is doing much better than I would have ever predicted. That's where I live now when I'm not in the road. Thanks for watching and commenting.
When IBM was cranking, it was a good place to be. I had so many friends then.
All those buildings, all those thousands of people working there every day, all the stuff they did and all the product they made... now just... gone. Saw the same thing in Essex Jct VT only they sold most of the place to Global Foundries, but they shut down a lot and laid off a lot of people long before that. The 'north lot' there which daily was filled with cars is now going back to nature, trees and plants growing up through the asphalt.
Right! So sad
I worked jn po-town and talked to techs in Kinston in 92 and all the mainframes were shipping to warehouses. No customers! saw the writing on the wall took buyout and traveled Europe for 6 months. Should have sold all stock at top $170+, but kept sone as it crashed. Bad times watching company and community die.
It was hard watching IBM take the hits it received. I remember when they told us they had Apple on the ropes and they were going to get knocked out. Management couldn't have been more wrong. Look at where some is today.
Howdy Bob, many thanks for sharing yet another very interesting and informative video here which I watched with undivided attention as usual. Cordial greetings from William , on holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes
You're the best William. Thanks for watching and commenting. I hope you have a real nice holiday. Take care!
Thanks for sharing this it’s nice to getting an insight to your background , yes you must’ve felt amazing.
Thanks Janet. I really liked fixing mainframe computers. I actually liked programming and could use a good programmatic problem to solve right now.
At the peak of activity at IBM, during the summer, the Recreation Center had great softball games starting at 9:45 PM!
Then, if you won it all, you were invited to attend the Watson Trophy dinner with a guest speaker.
My softball teams won a few years. The most memorable speaker was Rocky Blier from the Pittsburgh Steelers. I had some of my best softball games ever under those lights.
Do I know you Skyhawk? I knew someone from Kingston that went by that name.
Yes, I think we played on Walt's Team together and won... You used to cheer "Air-Con-dish!" when the other side whiffed..I still remember that... I was in center and left field... Richie O.
I remember you. I played shortstop. I think on Walt's team, we won 2 years, but who knows.
It's good to hear from you. I hope all is well with you.
Dad ran a booming business in Kingston in the '50s and '60s alongside many pals hired at IBM who socialized and were service club partners and neighbors. Everyone knew IBM people! Then, a "group of politicians" hyper-taxed non-NYC New Yorkers to fund NYC's welfare world and forced the most productive demographic to points south. Including our family. And IBMers.
What business did your dad run?
This is very interersting to see,. I always curious of what this place used to be. I lived in Kingston since I was 4 and I moved when I was 19. At one point I heard they was going to turn this place into another high school or a intergrated school with middle students. Im not sure what happend to that. In a way Kingston is a ghost town. You can see that in the empty mall, the vancant buildings as well as other closed businesses, The lack of jobs and programs for the youth. It only seems to be alive for 2 reasons in which one of them would be the life support that is genterifaction. More businesses are moving their operations from mostly the city to Kingston, employ cheap labor to make products to likley to sell online or to other businesses, and go home to one of their luxurious properties(not in Kingston). I know because I worked in 2 two of them. One of them interestingly was in the second warehouse that was shown, but thats a story for another day. The second reason is the high society tourist traps to attract those business. whether it is the city spending 15 million to put some pavement over train tracks and call it a historical trail or spending 100 dollars to eat food near some dirty water. The gist is the people who enjoy kingston, dont live in kingston. It was probably really amazing to have something there that was booming and a innovative thing people was happy to be apart of. I wish I coulld of been there to see the place I grew up more of lively place than it is now. In the end Kingston does have a lot of potential but New York in general will always be a husk of what it used to be.
IBM Endicott, Same thing, 11,000 jobs gone !!
I remember! That was a big hit on new York.
Ibm somers same deal.
Beautiful architecture nothing being done. Suppose to be a private school?
I've been to IBM Somers before. So sad what happened to IBM.
My dad worked there, and I did a little bit of contract work in the 80s and was a member of the PC club which met in the cafeteria on the opposite side of the building the CU was in. It's a shame they pulled out of Kingston, the town has never really recovered. Strangely enough, he was another Pittsburg transplant, though about 10 years before you...
Wow. Small world. I wonder if I knew your dad. I imagine you and I never met or else you would have said something. I worked there until 1995. Houses in Kingston are now being bought up by people from the City (NYC).
@@mylifein75sqft87 His name was William Kaltwasser and I'm a Jr. He made his way to Kingston via a short stint in Poughkeepsie. We did move around a bit, Austin in 80 and Tucson 82-84 and 87-88, lived on East Chester St, and had a second place on a mountain top in Esopus, plus we had a duplex apartment just off Albany Ave that ended up home to a lot of temp transferees which IBM was famous for. He was primarily FE, but bounced around a bit, and Tucson was GPD, Austin was Mickey mouse stuff, in the bucket of Rust building lol.
I don't know him, but real coincidences. I went to church on East Chester st at Morningstar fellowship, I lived on the next street over from east Chester on Staples St, then moved up on a mountain in Ulster Park, next to Esopus. Small world
Lou Gerstner ruined IBM, and was CEO when it was decided to close the Kingston site. Lou Gerstner also stole my pension!!
I happen to agree that the cookie monster wasn't that good for IBM. Mario Cuomo could have helped when IBM said if they didn't get tax cuts, they would be forced to close Kingston. Cuomo thought IBM was bluffing. Crazy times.
You sure know how to tell a story! I've just started my career and I have a software engineering offer from IBM Poughkeepsie. Right now I'm a programmer at a great little tech company that I LOVE. Not sure what I'm going to do.
Where do you live Jasmine. I have friends at IBM Poughkeepsie. I worked there also. It's a tough company to work for. What do they want you to work on? They do operating system stuff for mainframes there. If you want email me at: mylifein75sqft@gmail.com and we can talk about it.
Thanks. I'll definitely be writing to you.@@mylifein75sqft87
I would never work for ibm again. ruthless company
worked as an operator for data processing company started with s/370, 4341, 4381, S/390, Z/900
Did you work in Kingston? I fixed mainframes then went into programming mainframes. Fixing then was fun because you had to understand both hardware and software and microcode. The 3080 series ended real trouble shooting, so I know it was time to do something else.
It's so true that our economy was based on IBM. Then the next Cuomo in succession closed down the Hudson River Psychiatric Center, so all of my beloved patients are now on the streets. So what we have a complete system failure. Have you noticed the hopelessness, drug addiction, mental health and homelessness in this area? So upsetting.
Oh yeah. I'm not around this area that much, but I see it when I'm here.
I went to work in IBM Kingston in 1964 and also worked in Poughkeepsie for a while but retired from IBM Kingston in 1992. I worked in the Order Department. In Kingston, we built the largest mainframe computers, the 3665, 3667, and 3675. The mid size 303X line was made in Poughkeepsie.
www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP3031.html
I tested 3033s in both Kingston and Poughkeepsie. I managed when the 3081s came out, an then I went into programming.
thank CALPERS of CA for the closure. IBM didn't miss the PC market. All their PC people were killed in plane crash. IBM was closed because it was losing money with too much overtime, rehabs etc.
I was there. IBM came out with the PC way after the other companies. Exec management admitted it to us multiple times. They never thought people were going to want computers in their homes.
It is really sad. The same thing happened in the poughkeepsie/east fishkill plants. From something amazing to a dying company.
They made so much money selling mainframes in the late 70's and early 80's and wasted all that money. The upper level management missed out on so many opportunities. Crazy and sad.
Same as the Endicott/Glendale plants. After 30 years of neglect they are finally going to tear down half of the Endicott complex because it is literally crumbling - as a kid walking to high school I remember IBM sandblasting and painting those buildings every few years - haven't seen that in almost 40 years. How the mighty have fallen. Never was an IBMer but family members were and I remember how proud and loyal the workers that were eventually laid off were.
"77" bout the time my father retired
IBM was really good then.
Bldg 025 was a three storey building.
I remembered it being 4 stories. Who knows, the last time I was in it was 1994/1995.
@@mylifein75sqft87 I worked in it from 1983 to 1990, then moved to a different building. You can still see it on Google Earth. The first floor had the connector to the clock building. Two wings of the second floor were a raised floor lab with separate, windowed rooms with monitors and tape drives for programmers -- only operators were permitted in the areas with the mainframes, disk drives (DASD), etc. The third floor was where I worked. It was all offices, secretarial stations that eventually went vacant and conference rooms. There was no floor above.
What a shame all those empty buildings.
Yeah. It's terrible what happened to good people. A lot of my friends moved away.
By the way, I enjoyed this video and your discussion. When I visited Kingston, I recall my friend talking about IBM pulling out and how bad it was for the area, and how many people were affected. Pretty sad. Spooky buildings - who owns that property?
I don't know because the guy who bought them couldn't pay the taxes, so he let the town have some of the buildings. It's a shame. Who is your friend, I might know him/her.
My Life In 75 SqFt and they still lie mostly vacant. Odd! You likely wouldn’t know who I’m talking of. :(
Great video, thank you
How do you survive since then and till now? Did you leave the area? I'm sure not much to do for a programmer in such place now.
It's very sad indeed. American manufacturing needs to be brought back home
I worked at Readers Digest for a while after that but their database and IT department jobs ended up in India. Sad but true.
Hi, I am sorry to hear that. I want to let you know that you are a great programmer. I read about IBM's history and it was the leader in the industry. IBM is just like other corporations, ran by management who made "business" decisions based on profit-making ideologies.
It was a sad, sad day when IBM closed the Kingston plant. It wasn't just the business decisions why IBM had problems. Surely if NY would have listened to IBM, they may have lowered the taxes and IBM Kingston would still be there. There were a lot of things that caused IBM to lose market share. IBM had Apple on the ropes, so many times, ready to go out of business. We all know what happened there.
gerstner was a ' services ' guy not a manufacturing guy he lead the downfall
We called him the cookie monster because he came from Nabisco or something like that
I have a friend who lives on German street. Cool little area !
I'm not sure where German St is.
My Life In 75 SqFt I was there a few times. It’s along some little river. Nearby is Roundout? I haven’t looked at a map, nor do I recall so well. But it seems to be a very sweet spot along the river.
Looks like it’s a creek, off the Hudson.
I know where it is. It's near the place called the strand. The strand is the cool waterfront area with the good restaurants.
you cannt depend on anybody not even your own brother (get it while you can)
I can surely depend on my brother. I found that out.
Get what? You sound like a typically paranoid New Yorker!
@@timothyrush5640 new Yorkers aren't paranoid, were over cautious...who said that was a bad thing
Is this a personal history or a report on what happened to Kingston?
Both. I included some of my history in it as well. It's a TH-cam video, not a documentary, if you get what I mean. No matter what, it's sad what happened to that place.
IBM was a huge part of Kingston. People who worked there supported the economy. His personal history is relevant here.
Just some sad observations I made when I was there. My memories of working in that building were really good, so seeing it like that was really sad.
It’s nice to learn more about you🌈
Thanks. That was a long time ago when I worked there.
You put a lot of time at that place.
Oh yeah. The way that company got, it was hard working for them in the end.
I LIVE NEWR THERE OML
Where do you live?
There’s no way you can put this video out there and not elaborate further on not just your career but the chance to have worked on IBM mainframes. You must go further on the IBM stories. This video was not long enough. Did not know the cuomo bit. Was that gerstner’s threat?
Yeah, I think Gertsner made the threat that came to life. Please let me know what other stuff you want me to do in another video. I have no problem. Also, sorry for getting back to you so late. I've been in the outback making some other videos. No cell anywhere around.
My Life In 75 SqFt Well I cant seem to find any one who talks about working there. Everything is such a secret so you’d be a pioneer on the topic so feel free to go on for hours about whatever. I’m a licensed electrician myself so I really like the technical stuff, development and process all that but I’ll take what I can get. I have a family member that worked in the services/ executive arm of ibm so I’ve heard a lot of about that and how they lost sight of the customer which is why they’re always in trouble. I work with a bunch of engineers that designed stuff at the East Fishkill/Essex junction and Yorktown facilities (Construction end of things ) and its just insane how much ibm spent of building things just for them to be unprofitable or turn around and let it sit vacant or sell it. Anyways bring on the stories. Lots of them please
House was a total loss? Insurance claim? did you ever rebuild? IBM and Research in Motion are lessons that no company can stay on top of the mountain forever.
Right