Upstate New York has been the setting for inventions and businesses of international significance. The abundance of water power and the advent of canal and rail transportation provided nineteenth century upstate New York entrepreneurs with the means to power factories and send their products to market. In the twentieth century, hydroelectric power and the New York State Thruway served the same roles. In April 2021,
GlobalFoundries, a company specializing in the
semiconductor industry, moved its headquarters from
Silicon Valley, California to its most advanced
semiconductor-chip manufacturing facility in
Saratoga County, New York near a section of the
Adirondack Northway, in
Malta, New York.[1]
John Warren Butterfield (1801–1869) was an operator of stagecoach and freight lines in the mid-19th century in the American Northeast and Southwest. He founded companies that became American Express and Wells Fargo.
Seth Green, pioneer in fish farming, inventor of the fish hatchery
Robert Gundlach, born near Buffalo, made prolific contributions to the field of xerography, specifically the development of the modern photocopier. Gundlach helped transform the Haloid Company, a small photographic firm, into the Xerox Corporation.
Jesse Hawley of Geneva, influential proponent of the Erie Canal
Herman Hollerith, born in
Buffalo, a statistician who developed a mechanical tabulator based on punched cards. His company was eventually merged into others to form
IBM.
David Maydole, blacksmith and inventor of adz-eye hammer construction method. He founded the
Maydole Hammer Factory, once the largest hammer factory in the nation, in
Norwich.
William Henry Miner, railroad equipment manufacturer, philanthropist, founder of the Miner Institute at Heart's Delight Farm in
Chazy
Eliphalet Remington, firearms and typewriter manufacturer. The Remington typewriter, later manufactured by
Remington Rand, was the first typewriter to use the
QWERTY keyboard layout,
The Adirondack baseball bat, made in
Dolgeville, New York, of local white ash, originally by the McLaughlin-Millard Company[12] McLaughlin-Millard was bought by the Rawlings company in 1975. The bats, now labeled Rawlings Adirondack, are used by about one-third of major leaguers.[13][14]
Bicycles, built in Syracuse by the
E. C. Stearns Bicycle Agency. For a period in the 1890s, Stearns was the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the world.
The
Crescent Wrench, originally the brand name for the product of the Crescent Tool Company of
Jamestown.[8]The term crescent wrench has become a generic term in North America for any
adjustable wrench.
Nickelodeon, the first children's television channel, was introduced in Buffalo under the name "Pinwheel" in 1977. After going nationwide, it later moved to Florida and then to California.
Shredded Wheat was invented by Henry Perky of Denver, Colorado. He and
William Henry Ford of
Watertown, working in Watertown, invented and patented the first machinery for the production of Shredded Wheat. In 1901, drawn by inexpensive electrical power for baking, Perky built a new plant at
Niagara Falls. A representation of the factory appeared on the Shredded Wheat boxes for decades.