Making Headlines

History is told in many strange ways, and often it isn't told at all. But for a reminder of how much politics, strategy and salesmanship can go into the telling, consider the scene on Monday when President Obama signed legislation establishing a national park in, of all places, Paterson, N.J., a faded industrial town that is one of the poorest in the nation.

More than 200 years ago, during the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton was traveling with Gen. George Washington when the men stopped with their entourage to have a meal in front of a magnificent waterfall. As they ate and drank, the precocious 23-year-old Hamilton saw in the power of the falls an engine of post-Colonial development for the nascent nation.

In 2010, the Paterson Museum displayed  an important letter George Washington wrote from the Great Falls. The original letter General Washington penned in 1780 during a difficult time in the war. To celebrate Washington's Birthday on February 22, Paterson High School students viewed the letter and heard comments from Congressman Bill Pascrell, Paterson Schools Superindent Donnie Evans, and Hamilton Partnership President Leonard Zax.

For the first time in 230 years, George Washington returned to the Great Falls, where he once had his Headquarters during the Revolutionary War.  In the letter that was recently displayed at Mount Vernon, General Washington complained that his troops did not have the manufactured supplies they needed to win the war. "We have no cloathing," he wrote with the spelling of the time, and he called for “an entire new plan" and "oeconomy."  

This letter takes on special significance now that President Obama has signed legislation to create the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park. During Washington’s first term as President, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton prepared a plan to end America’s dependence on foreign nations for manufactured goods. Hamilton founded the City of Paterson to use the power of the Great Falls for new industries that would secure America's economic independence. Over the next 150 years, Paterson produced the first manufactured sailcloth for every ship in the American navy, the first Colt revolvers, the first American locomotives, the first motorized submarines, and more aircraft engines for WWII bombers than any city in the nation.

Read coverage of the event:

• The Record (230-year letter by George Washington returns to Paterson) (pdf)
• The Star Ledger (Paterson is visited by the Past) (pdf)

With new Federal funding, the 1914 hydropower plant at the Great Falls is going to increase its renewable energy output, which currently produces enough power for 11,000 homes. More details in this news report at the Great Falls with Sen. Bob Menendez. Watch the news report.

The National Park Service has launched the Great Falls Youth Corps in Paterson. After educational training this spring, you will see them—most between the ages of 16 and 19—around the Great Falls Historic District working full-time this summer. They will help guide visitors of all ages to America's new national park. Details in this article.