Why Is Binghamton Called “The Parlor City”?

Earlier today, I was doing a search on Google about road construction or something with Binghamton (honestly, I've totally forgotten), but I ended up on this tangent about Binghamton's history when seeing the auto-fill questions that Google suggested for me.

Check this out:

Now, these suggestions, the got me thinking: "Maybe I should research each of these answers, and let our listeners know!

"Why Is Binghamton Called The Parlor City?"

According to the City of Binghamton's website: "The City of Binghamton was named after a wealthy Philadelphia patriot (William Bingham) who purchased 10,000 acres of land on both sides of the Susquehanna River. The village's government was organized in 1834, and shortly thereafter boomed with manufacturing of "cigars, sleighs, carriages, scales, book publishing, overalls, furniture, oil refining, electrical supplies, lumber, washing machines, pianos, organs, foundries, machine shops and leather tanning". All of this new-found wealth brought into the area, transformed many of the residential areas into showy, and flourishing areas... which one traveler through the Binghamton area nicknamed "The Parlor City".

As I'm sure you know all too well... we don't get to choose our nicknames... but sometimes they stick without even trying! It was a random traveler's passing comment that stuck to this day!