Motorola basically did the same thing in a Northern Illinois community. I think the massive site stayed open a little more than a year. It still today remains a huge empty space sitting in the prairie some fifteen year on.
Similar outcome, but happened for different reasons. The CEO lived in McHenry and, essentially, wanted work to be closer to his house. When the plant was closed, it was because Motorola had been fundamentally mismanaged, which is different from IBM's cost-cutting to maintain its successful strategy.
I am in the Rockford area and saw a lot of friends suffer financially because of Motorola's missteps. Rockford also competed with Dubuque to get IBM, and for the same reasons (vague intentions to anchor a tech scene), but was disqualified early in the selection process because it didn't have a minimum threshold of college graduates.
I am in the Rockford area and saw a lot of friends suffer financially because of Motorola's missteps. Rockford also competed with Dubuque to get IBM, and for the same reasons (vague intentions to anchor a tech scene), but was disqualified early in the selection process because it didn't have a minimum threshold of college graduates.