Court Street Historic District

Court Street Historic District covers the historic commercial and civic core of downtown Binghamton, New York, on both sides of Court Street east of the Chenango River. It contains 104 buildings, 89 of them contributing, built between about 1840 and 1939. Most are three- to six-story brick commercial buildings standing side by side along a grid of streets, with taller towers such as the ten-story Security Mutual Building and the twelve-story Press Building near the center. The domed Broome County Courthouse and the Old City Hall, both listed separately, anchor the district. Styles run from small Greek Revival stores of the 1840s through Italianate, Romanesque Revival, Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical designs to the Art Deco Justice Building of 1939. The district matters because it traces Binghamton's growth after the Chenango Canal opened in 1837, including expansion tied to the cigar and rail industries, and its role as a financial center and seat of government.