Overview
The City of Paterson has a long and proud history as the Nation’s first planned industrial City. The City was founded in 1792 when Alexander Hamilton saw the potential of the 77 foot high Great Falls of the Passaic River and formed the Society for Useful Manufactures. Using the power of the Great Falls, the City would become the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Harvesting the flow of water through a system of raceways to power mills and factories, silk, locomotives, firearms, and textiles were all manufactured in Paterson. The City became known as the “Silk City” as a result of the prominence of the silk industry that dominated the City for many decades. The economic power of these industries based around the Great Falls built the City into one of the largest and most powerful in the northeast.