Alexander Hamilton Center at the Great Falls

Future park visitors will have a new way to experience the history, culture, and beauty of the Great Falls—the Alexander Hamilton visitor learning center. A lead donation from a private funder has lifted the project from aspirational to achievable.

The Alexander Hamilton Center will be a new model for a National Park visitor center, telling the stories of Paterson and the Great Falls in ways that appeal to a new generation of park visitors. There will be no lengthy films in darkened theaters or outdated dioramas behind glass, keeping everyone at a distance. Instead, the Center will connect visitors to the park through interactive exhibits and experiences, integrated indoor/outdoor space, hands-on activities and programs, and multimedia resources.

The themes of the national park—innovation, immigration, opportunity, perseverance—come from Hamilton's actual words when he founded the city of Paterson. Even though these ideas are over 200 years old, they speak directly to Americans today. The exhibits at the Center will explore these themes, as well as Paterson's role in industry, labor, global trade, science and engineering, arts and literature, and even baseball.

The multilevel visitor center will be built in the foundation of an early 20th-century steam plant, directly across from the Great Falls and below the statue of Alexander Hamilton. For more information on plans for the Alexander Hamilton Center, please download our brochure using the link below.