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Most people believe the General Electric retreat at Association Island was organized by GE. In reality, it was originally formed by several businessmen from the incandescent lamp industry; these men formed an association of lamp companies to compete with GE. A 1903 fishing trip to Henderson Harbor inspired them to purchase the island for their summer sojourns; however, ownership of the association and the island were eventually absorbed by GE, turning it into a full-scale resort for executives and managers of the ever-expanding corporation. Hotels, restaurants, garages, boats, fishing guides, managers, and maintenance workers from nearby Henderson Harbor were all tied to Association Island for the next 50 years. When GE gave it away, Association Island fell into a long and steady period of decline until it was turned into a camping resort for the 21st century. Association Island illustrates the financial and social impact of a significant corporation on a small fishing community.

Briarcliff Lodgeis a record of a New York landmark that disappeared from the landscape in a spectacular fire in September 2003.

When it opened in 1902, Briarcliff Lodgewas America's premier resort hotel. Located some thirty miles north of New York City, this magnificent Tudor-style building was surrounded by dairy barns and greenhouses, all built by Walter Law, the laird of Briarcliff Manor.

Here, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were hosted, as were Tallulah Bankhead, Johnny Weissmuller, Jimmy Walker, Babe Ruth, and other luminaries. The hotel business declined in the 1930s, here and at other nearby resorts, but Briarcliff Lodgecontinued in use as the home of the Edgewood Park Schoolfrom 1936 to 1954 and as the King's Collegefrom 1955 to 1994.

Rob Yasinsac is a lifelong Westchester County resident who documents neglected historic sites throughout the Hudson Valleyin an attempt to save them. He works for Historic Hudson Valley, serves as a trustee on the boards of the Westchester Countyand Irvington Historical Societies, and is a member of numerous other historical organizations.

IBM is heir to all the ideas for innovative ciphering machines of the past.

From granite blocks used to tell time, to beads used for accounting purposes, to punch cards, to computer chips as small as a raindrop, all are the historical roots of this corporate legend. IBM began with a small group of visionaries whose first factory was in a dismal garret in Binghamton, New York. By the time the Bundy Manufacturing Company relocated to Endicott, New York, it was part of the greatest industrial revolution in the world: the birth of computing technology. IBM in Endicott illustrates the development of a corporation and the people and ideas that made IBM a household word. With the city of Endicott at the epicenter of progress, IBM grew from a small company named Bundy Manufacturing, incorporated in 1889, to the company known as International Business Machines. Pictured are just a few of the notable moments during some of the golden years of Big Blue.

Nestled amidst a major commuter train line, a state highway, and picture-perfect views of the Long Island Sound and Nissequogue River, Kings Park balances its small-town feel with an excitingly diverse community vibrancy. Kings Park emerged in the late 19th century as the product of a utopian-inspired farm and the first state psychiatric hospital on Long Island. The community has diverse origins, with its foundation built upon thousands of incoming Irish and Italian immigrant workers and an orphanage for African American children. Throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries, Kings Park gradually evolved into a contemporary Long Island suburb, rebuilding after a traumatic downtown fire in 1917, reaping the benefits of one of the North Shore's largest state parks (Sunken Meadow), and blossoming into a bustling family-oriented place.

From 1859 to the present, the name Paul Smiths has meant different things to visitors and residents of the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York. In the 19th century, the name was synonymous with a grand hotel on the shores of Lower St. Regis Lake and the wilderness guide who was its founder. In the early 20th century, the hotel business expanded to include land sales, a railroad, a telephone company, and the Paul Smith's Electric Power and Light Company, which became the first electric provider in the region. After World War II, Paul Smith's College was founded to provide quality liberal arts and technical associate-level degrees to returning veterans and recent high school graduates. Today Paul Smith's College attracts students from across America to the only baccalaureate-degree-granting institution in the six-million-acre Adirondack Park.

Steinway & Sons is a unique entity in American history. Steinway is many things--an iconic piano, an American success story, a symbol of opulence, a metaphor for artistic passion, and a geographic locale. Part of the fabric of two New York City boroughs, Steinway occupies a compelling place in the minds and hearts of the millions of people, from pianists and students to artisans and salespeople, who have been impacted by the brand. From Steinway & Sons' inception in 1853 until today, the company's mission has stayed the same as the one German immigrant Henry E. Steinway articulated upon his arrival in America, "to build the best piano possible." In the late 1800s, Steinway emerged as the standard-bearer in piano design and manufacturing, outshining and outlasting other brands including Chickering and Weber. Today, the Steinway piano is still built by hand in New York City according to the same stringent processes developed by Henry E. Steinway and his sons.