A Rare Look Inside Broome County's Records Storage Center

While many government records have been digitized, millions of paper pages containing important information continue to be stored at a little-known complex in Binghamton.

The Broome County records management center is located in a nondescript warehouse on Binghamton's West Side.

County Clerk Aaron Martin said there are about 13,000 boxes of documents in the secure facility on North Floral Avenue.

A sign remains from a previous Broome County records storage facility in Vestal. (Photo: Bob Joseph/WNBF News)

Broome County acquired the 22,000-square-foot building following foreclosure proceedings in 2012. The site had previously been used for manufacturing by Ramp Industries.

The center provides long-term storage for records from 40 county departments.

Some of the boxes stored on tall shelves in the building contain documents that are more than two centuries old. Some include records dating back to 1806 when Broome County was officially established.

Broome County election returns from the early 1800s are still stored in the records management center in Binghamton. (Photo: Bob Joseph/WNBF News)

While not all records need to be stored forever, some boxes are labeled "Permanent" and won't be going anywhere. Other boxes are marked with the year indicating when they can be legally destroyed.

The records management office is overseen by deputy county clerk David Jensen.

These boxes of records marked "Permanent" must be stored indefinitely. (Photo: Bob Joseph/WNBF News)

Many county records now are available online. But when a department or an individual needs an old document that hasn't been scanned into the system, it often can be found in one of the boxes on North Floral Avenue.

People seeking records that may be stored in the Binghamton facility should contact the original county department that generated the original document for assistance.

WNBF NEWS VIDEO: A stroll through the records management center in Binghamton on January 14, 2026.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or call (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.

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