Editing Binghamton, New York (section)

===Early settlement===
The first known people of European descent to come to the area were the troops of the [[Sullivan Expedition]] in 1779, during the [[American Revolutionary War]], who destroyed local villages of the [[Onondaga people|Onondaga]] and [[Oneida people|Oneida]] tribes.<ref name="broomehist" /> The city was named after [[William Bingham]], a wealthy Philadelphian who bought the 10,000 acre [[patent]] for the land in 1786, then consisting of parts of the towns of [[Union, New York|Union]] and [[Chenango, New York|Chenango]].<ref name="broomehist" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Binghamton: Building the Parlor City |url=http://www.wskg.org/episode/binghamton-building-parlor-city |publisher=WSKG |access-date=August 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417170637/http://wskg.org/episode/binghamton-building-parlor-city |archive-date=April 17, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Joshua Whitney, Jr., Bingham's land agent, chose land at the junction of the [[Chenango River|Chenango]] and [[Susquehanna River|Susquehanna]] Rivers to develop a settlement, then named '''Chenango Point'''.<ref name=broomehist /><ref>{{cite book |last=Hinman |first=Marjory |title=Whitney's Town |year=1996 |publisher=Broome County Historical Society |location=Binghamton, NY}}</ref> After being officially conveyed the land by Bingham on July 4, 1800, Whitney arranged for the construction of the settlement's first two streets, Court Street and Water Street, and the first residence was built later that year.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawyer |first1=William |title=Binghamton, Its Settlement, Growth and Development |date=1900 |publisher=Century Memorial Publishing Co. |pages=64–71 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/01024521/ |access-date=20 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Henry Perry |title=History of Broome County: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers |date=1885 |publisher=D. Mason & Co. |location=Syracuse, N.Y. |pages=198–203 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbroomec00smit/page/n7/mode/2up |access-date=20 April 2024}}</ref> Whitney continued to expand Chenango Point and sell plots to new settlers, and helped erect the first [[Court Street Bridge (Binghamton)|bridge]] in 1808.<ref name=broomehist /> The significant growth of Chenango Point led to its incorporation as a [[village (New York)|village]], and its official renaming as Binghamton, in 1834.<ref name="bingcityhist" /><ref name=broomehist/> [[Daniel S. Dickinson]] was chosen to be the first village president.<ref name=broomehist/>

[[File:Binghamton, NY LOC 91680390.tif|thumb|[[Perspective map]] of Binghamton from 1882 published by [[L.R. Burleigh]]]]
The [[Chenango Canal]], completed in 1837, connected Binghamton to the [[Erie Canal]], and was the impetus for the initial industrial development of the area.<ref>{{cite book |last=McFee |first=Michele |title=Limestone Locks and Overgrowth: The Rise and Descent of the Chenango Canal |year=1993 |publisher=Purple Mountain Press |location=Fleischmanns, NY |isbn=978-0-935-79644-5}}</ref> This growth accelerated with the completion of the [[Erie Railroad]] between Binghamton and Jersey City, NJ in 1849.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erie History |url=http://www.erierailroad.org/erie-history/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130831191659/http://www.erierailroad.org/erie-history/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 31, 2013 |publisher=Erie Railroad Historical Website |access-date=August 31, 2013}}</ref> With the [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]] arriving soon afterward, the village became an important regional transportation center.<ref name="broomehist" /><ref>{{cite web |title=DL&W, Erie, and D&H Early Binghamton History |url=http://www.trainweb.org/SVRHS/earlyRR.html |publisher=Susquehanna Valley Railway Historical Society |access-date=August 31, 2013 |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113014557/http://www.trainweb.org/SVRHS/earlyRR.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Several buildings of importance were built at this time, including the [[New York State Inebriate Asylum]], opened in 1858 as the first center in the United States to treat alcoholism as a disease.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1611239784&ResourceType=Building |title=New York State Inebriate Asylum |date=September 15, 2007 |access-date=August 31, 2013 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024164429/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1611239784&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=October 24, 2013}}</ref>