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I recall driving by the GE facility in Syracuse, right next to the Thruway. Over time, the number of cars in the parking lot dwindled to basically none. Now it's a Lockheed-Martin facility for military radar (or at least was).

I imagine those GE workers who were young enough probably moved elsewhere, but the older ones didn't fare so well.

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Here's an interesting article on the history of the plant. Sounds like employment peaked in 1966 with 17 thousand employees before dropping to 7500 in 1972 and staying roughly stable until the 90s. Apparently they've been building radar there since 1987, and I can confirm that's still the purpose of the Lockheed-Martin plant.

https://www.syracuse.com/living/2019/09/an-historical-timeli...

Thanks for the history! Been driving past that plant for almost 40 years going back and forth across the state.

I was surprised when the article opened with what it said was the worlds first transistor radio, because I always thought that was the TR-1. It looks like GE made a prototype, but never took it to market.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_TR-1

I'm in the same boat. Been living here roughly 30 years, but this article was the first I'm learning about this fascinating bit of history! Glad the parent comment mentioned it!

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