First Phase of Park Renovations Complete!

Sep 15, 2015

Ribbon Cutting at Mary Ellen Kramer Park

The first phase of improvements to the National Park was completed this summer, and we celebrated with a ribbon-cutting cermony on August 28.

The newly-renovated section of the park, tucked in between the Great Falls and Hinchliffe Stadium, is known as Mary Ellen Kramer Park.

It is named for Paterson's former first lady, whose work in the 1970s was instrumental in preserving the land around the Falls and establishing the Great Falls National Historic District.

Mary Ellen Kramer Park now has a variety of new amenities including paved and lighted walking trails, benches and picnic tables, and a decorative brick-and-iron entrance gate. A stepped walkway leads to an observation deck, giving visitors new and improved opportunities to get up close to the Great Falls.

Visitors tour the newly-renovated Mary Ellen Kramer Park.

Now that Mary Ellen Kramer Park is open, park visitors can once again walk the full Mill Mile. Download the audio tour app (Android or iOS) to take a walk around the Great Falls with Super Bowl star Victor Cruz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz, MacArthur Prize-winning creator of HAMILTON Lin-Manuel Miranda, and other friends of Paterson.

Did You Know?

"The river finding this chasm pours all its water into it headlong from a height, according to guess, of about 80 feet; and all this pouring water must break upon the undermost piece of stone lying in the crevice, which causes a great roaring and foaming, so that persons standing there side by side have to call out loud before they can understand each other. By reason of the breaking of the water, and the wind which the falling water carries with it, there is constantly spray ascending like smoke, which scatters itself like rain."

- Nelson and Shriner, History of Paterson. (The first written account of a journey to the Great Falls dates back to 1680 and describes what the adventurous explorers called "the power and wonder of God":)

First Phase of Park Renovations Complete!

Did You Know?

Our mission is to maximize the public benefits of the new Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park for the City, the State, and the Nation.