After the realignment of Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, the almost 3,500 acre area found itself in the hands of the Griffiss Local Development Corporation, which receives staff support from Mohawk Valley EDGE.

"We built upon strengths, location, land resources, the fact that the Air Force left behind obviously a lot of infrastructure which had value to us," said Mohawk Valley EDGE President Steve DiMeo.

Fast forward about two decades, and the Griffiss Business and Technology Park is filled with private businesses, educational facilities, walking trails, a county airport, and even some continued military operations.

"Griffiss played a role during the attacks in 9/11," said Rome Historical Society Executive Director Arthur Simmons. "The Air Defense component, as they were tracking the planes during that event and whatnot and continues to have that mission."

DiMeo says there's still a federal presence there.

"Principally the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Eastern Air Defense Sector which under the past brack was transferred from the Air Force to the Air National Guard, DFAS which came to Griffiss after the Brack Realignment," DiMeo said.

"It's the economic driver," said Rome Mayor Jackie Izzo. "Actually, it's the economic driver for the whole region."

Today, more than 5,000 people work at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park.

"Other [former] Air Force bases don't look like [what] our does. We have built ours out. We have a beautiful tech park there," Izzo said. "I think that GLDC and EDGE have pretty much followed the plan they put in place for developing different aspects of the park."

However, keeping federal operations in Rome isn't always easy, and there's a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure those jobs don't leave.

"The Alliance is all about, 'We have it, don't lose it,'" said CNY Defense Alliance Executive Director Mary Chruscicki.

The alliance tries to protect jobs at Griffiss, form local partnerships, and lobbies in the interests of those at the park.

"By putting our resources together, we can make some big advancements in where this industry is going," Churscicki said. "So we are, in my opinion, leading the industry in drone technology."

More is coming to the base.

"We're gonna have quantum computing, neuromorphic computing," she said. "They've got partnerships with IBM that are coming here, General Electric, Citigroup, Google, all doing research here in Rome, New York."

Life doesn't stand still and neither does Griffiss, but its roots haven't been forgotten.

Veteran Mike Grogan has flown many times on the iconic Bomber that's still at the park.

"There's still presence of the old base that's still there. Matter of fact, I'm not sure if you know but RFA High School, part of their cafeteria is the old chapel. You can still see it. It's pretty neat," said Grogan.

The Rome Historical Society has a large space in their museum dedicated to the history of Griffiss.

B-52 at Griffiss is currently managed by the Henry P Smith Post 24 American Legion in Rome. The organization is accepting donations toward its upkeep.