Patrick Leahy: “Today I proudly tell my friends in the Senate about an impressive milestone in the history of Vermont business. This…”

“Today I proudly tell my friends in the Senate about an impressive milestone in the history of Vermont business. This winter marked 50 years since IBM President Tom Watson Jr. opened a manufacturing plant in Essex Junction. Today, IBM is Vermont's largest private employer and one of the foundations to a growing technology sector throughout our State. Many events have and will be planned to celebrate the many achievements IBM and its workforce have made in the Green Mountain State. Most recently, Vermont Business Magazine ran a collection of news pieces and special features in its April 2007 issue about IBM's history in Vermont. IBM's 50 Years of Innovation and Evolution (By Senator Patrick Leahy) In 1957, then IBM President Tom Watson Jr. selected Vermont's Essex Junction to build one of his company's key manufacturing facilities. Five decades later, the technology and family of employees at IBM Essex have come to define Northern Vermont as much as the snowy winters, short summers and Yankee ingenuity that lured Tom Watson to the Green Mountains in the first place.”