Downtown Paterson

Book excerpt: It was a corporate experiment--an experiment that would later be known as Paterson, New Jersey. Home of the Great Falls, Paterson holds the distinction of being the first planned industrial center of the United States. The land of the Lenape and a few Dutch settlers would be forever changed when politicians and wealthy investors founded Paterson as a corporation, as opposed to chartering it as a city, in 1792. At a crucial turning point in our young, agrarian-based nation, the struggles and triumphs of individuals from diverse ethnic groups would be set into historic motion. Over 100 photographs of Paterson's rich past and complicated present have been woven together with text from noted historians and poets, focusing on the downtown historic area. Downtown Paterson takes us on a journey from the beginnings of the proverbial Silk City through its radical labor past and days of pre-mall grandeur with a thriving Main Street abundant with elegant stores, vaudeville houses, and movie theaters. This volume ends with a probing look at the city's present-day people and places.