Great Falls Raceway and Power System

In 1791, Alexander Hamilton prompted the incorporation of the "society for establishing usefull [sic] manufactures" to begin America's economic and industrial independence. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, engineer and planner of the nation's capital, and Peter Colt designed a raceway and power system to harness the Passaic River at Great Falls and create America's first planned industrial city. That development sparked countless engineering and industrial innovations and progress, including the Colt revolver, Rogers and other steam locomotives, the Holland submarine, the Curtis-Wright aircraft engine, and textile and silk manufacturing that made Paterson famous as the "silk city" of the world. The Great Falls raceway at Paterson became the basis of the oldest American community integrating water power, industrial development, and urban planning, and it stands as a landmark of American civil and mechanical engineering heritage.

Paterson, New Jersey · United States