Typically I take you to monuments constructed to mark historic events or to honor people directly involved in Reconstruction or the Civil War. However, I sometimes take you places where you can observe the economic or social life of those times from the 1860s and 1870s. When I first went to the Great Falls in Paterson many years ago, there was very little interpretation at all there. A string of ruins of industrial facilities and a very polluted waterfall was all I could see. In 2009, President Obama designated the Great Falls as a future National Historic Park and on Nov. 7, 2011 the park was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS). When I went there in January of 2024 I could see quite a bit of work going on both on the banks of the falls and in the gorge. However, this is a fairly new park and while you will be able to see the power of the falls, the interpretive materials are limited.
The Great Falls area was a line of mills right before the Civil War where Southern cotton was transformed into cloth for a national market. Silk production was also getting started at that time and later in the 19th Century Paterson was called “Silk City.” About a half century later, the city experienced a labor struggle between the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) and the owners of the mills that was prolonged and bloody, but that is outside our time period.
I started my visit at Overlook Park, where there is a parking field and several interpretive signs. Across from the heights, you can see the falls, a footbridge and the SUM building. At the parking lot you are about seven stories above the Passaic River. The day I went the air temperature was just a 1little under freezing, but you can see the ice on the gorge opposite the falls.
Much of the current historical interpretation focuses on the foundation of industrial manufacturing here. In 1791, the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (SUM) was incorporated and Alexander Hamilton, yes that Alexander Hamilton, began looking at the Passaic River, with its swift moving current, as a motor for modern manufacturing. his statue is in Overlook Park.
Hamilton set up a series of grist mills along the banks and he commissioned Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the designer of Washington, D.C., to come up with a city plan. Paterson became the first planned industrial town in the United States. A series of canals were built through the town which could power mills built along them.
If you stop by this site today, you will do well to imagine what might be done here in the future. However, the site is not complete, and it might take twenty years before we get close to completion.
The water was used to power the mills, but it was also used for drinking. The city built a modern drinking water system at a time when many parts of the United States used wells.
The SUM building stands by the side of the falls. Up until the advent of steam power in the 1830s, Paterson was a leading textile manufacturer. Then New England steam powered textile mills competed with the Paterson mills. As cotton textiles became less a source of revenue, in the 1840s and 1850s, the city began manufacturing steam locomotives, armaments, and silk.
When you visit the falls, be prepared for walking. There are a number of good areas right next to the major falls, as well as lesser falls where you can observe the falling waters.
Below, I went past the hydroelectric processing area and went beside the falls.
As you can see, the area below is quite a drop.
The ice makes a refreshing tableaux. Note that the walking bridge is closed and will be replaced.
Across the river you can see Mary Ellen Kramer Park. In the past you could reach it by crossing over the footbridge. Now you should drive to it. You can see the water pipes bringing water to the city.
By the 1960s, most of the manufacturing had moved out, the SUM had closed down years before, and the city was one of the poorest places in America. While it occasionally appeared on TV and in movies from the Sopranos to Reds, by the late 20th Century, it was forgotten even in New Jersey.
The new National Park Service takeover has restored some life to the area, but it is slow going. An increasing number of visitors come to admire the falls and to learn about geology and aquatic ecology, Some work, however, is beginning to restore and preserve the industrial past, which was so important to the North at the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
By the 1860s, the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works based in Paterson was supplying steam locomotives to power American railroads. The area at the time of the war was also a major manufacturer of iron and steel. Because of this, Samuel Colt began making his revolvers in Peterson and the site is protected by the National Park Service, although it is a ruin.
If you can tolerate the work going on at the site, you will be rewarded with great views.
The water is substantially cleaned up from when I first visited here years ago. But you will see nature’s beauty right next to 19th Century industrial buildings. In the photo below you can see the amphitheater where rangers explain the site to tourists.
The jagged channels offer many places where you can view the river.
Here, below the Overlook, you can see the remains of Colt and other mills.
The Overlook Park sign.
Where the mills used to be, there are now picnic tables. Note: these are closed because of the ice from the falls in the Winter.
A sign talks about the products manufactured at the falls.
I went over to Mary Ellen Kramer Park across from the SUM building. It was Winter and everything was covered in ice. I found it rewarding to walk here, but many older people turned back because of the danger of falling.
Hamilton, as you know, is always a popular personality. An immigrant to this country, he was killed by a United States vice-president.
At Kramer Park I had a magnificent view of the falls, just a few dozen feet away.
Tourists could not resist taking pictures in front of the lamps covered in ice with their light showing through!
Just across the river was where Colt manufactured the world’s first repeating revolver using interchangeable parts. Appropriately, it was called the Colt Paterson Revolver. It was designed in 1836. While it was an innovative design, problems with its functioning led the company to stop making them in 1842. By the time of the Civil War, much of Colt’s manufacturing had moved to Connecticut.
Below is a view of the former Colt site from Kramer Park.
There were a number of buildings being restored, including this one by the falls below. While Paterson has seen a revival of its economy with new immigrants coming to the city, it has not fully recovered from deindustrialization in the 1960s and 1970s. The crime rate is above most other areas in New Jersey. I did not feel at all under danger, but I was there during the day time and I stayed in areas where a fair number of people were around.
You can view what is going on inside the National Park Service site here. The NPS warns that there is heavy construction going on. This was easy to avoid, but you should be aware of it. There is a 2PM walking tour led by a Ranger exploring the nature and human history of the site. These are offered year round on the weekends, with even more tours over the summer.
You can also get a free Mills Mile App that includes a self-guided tour.
All color photos were taken by Pat Young unless otherwise noted. To see more sites Pat visited CLICK HERE for Google Earth view.
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