Factories Below the Falls: Paterson's Allied Textile Printing Site in Historic Context

488 Pages·2010·12.06 MB·English

Cultural Resource Investigation of the
Allied Textile Printing Site, Paterson NJ
Volume 1
Factories Below the Falls:
Paterson’s Allied Textile Printing Site in Historic Context
DPMC #: P1047-00
September 15, 2010
Prepared for:
Steven Sutkin, Director
Division of Property
Management and Construction LLC
33 West State Street,
P.O. Box 034
Trenton, NJ 08625-0034

Factories Below the Falls:
Paterson’s allied textile Printing site
in historic context
new Jersey dePartment oF
environmental Protection
division oF Parks and Forestry
Prepared for:
Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects, LLC
200 Forrestal Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
Prepared by:
Hunter Research, Inc.
120 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
TranSystems
One Oxford Valley, Suite 818
Langhorne, PA 19047
URS Corporation
437 High Street
Burlington, NJ 08016
sePtemBer 2010
Paterson, to most New Yorkers, and for that matter to most Americans, may be an old story. To me it is one
of the most interesting pools of life I know. There is nothing in Paterson, most people will tell you, save silk
mills and five-and-ten-cent stores. It is true. Yet to me it is a beautiful city in the creative sense—a place in
which to stage a great novel. These mills—have you ever seen them? They line the Passaic river and various
smooth canals that branch out from it. It was no doubt the well-known waterfall and rapids of this river that
originally drew manufacturers to Paterson, supplied the first mills with water, and gave the city its start. Then
along came steam and all of the wonders of modern electrically-driven looms …. From the mills themselves,
as one drew near, came the crash of the shuttles and the thrum of spindles, where thousands of workers were
immured, weaving silk which probably they might never wear.
Theodore Dreiser from A Hoosier Holiday (1916:26-27)
The Employment of Machinery forms an item of great importance in the general mass of national industry. It
is an artificial force brought in aid of the natural force of man; and to all the purpose of labor, is an increase
of hands, an accession of strength, unencumbered by the expense of maintaining the laborer.
Alexander Hamilton from Report on the Subject of Manufactures (1791)
HUNTER RESEARCH
Cultural Resource Investigation Historic Context
Allied Textile Printing Site; Paterson, New Jersey September 2010
DPMC #P1047-00
AbstrAct
The following historic context document was prepared by Hunter Research, Inc. with contributions from
TransSystems and the URS Corporation. The project team undertook this work as subconsultants to Farewell
Mills Gatsch Architects, LLC, prime contractor to the State of New Jersey, Department of the Treasury, Division
of Property Management and Construction, and the Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Parks
and Forestry, Natural & Historic Resources Group, Historic Preservation Office. Funding was provided by the
National Park Service through the Urban History Initiative.
The document is one component of a broader cultural resource investigation of the ATP site that seeks to lay
the groundwork for the site’s future preservation and interpretation. Related work components, for which this
context provides a basis, involve an assessment of existing conditions, archaeological field investigations and
the development of preservation treatment recommendations. All elements of this cultural resource study are
intended to meet the stipulations of an amended Programmatic Agreement concluded in June 2002 between the
National Park Service, the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, the City of Paterson, the New Jersey Historic
Trust and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation concerning the preservation status and future of the
former Allied Textile Printing Site, Great Falls/Society of Useful Manufacturers National Historic Landmark
District, Paterson, New Jersey.
This document contains detailed historical data concerning the land use development of the Allied Textile Printing
(ATP) site and more broadly places the site within an appropriate historic setting. It addresses the historical
significance of the site as a whole and offers a framework within which the relative historical importance and
integrity of surviving structural and archaeological remains can be evaluated.
The ATP site lies within the core of several overlapping designated historic entities focused on the rich industrial
history of the City of Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey: notably, the Great Falls of Paterson/Society for
Useful Manufactures Historic District, as listed in the National Register of Historic Places (April 17, 1970) and
the New Jersey Register of Historic Places (May 27, 1971); the Great Falls/Society of Useful Manufacturers
[sic] National Historic Landmark District (established in 1976); the Great Falls State Park (established in 2004);
and the recently created Paterson Great Falls National Park (designated in 2009). The Great Falls Raceway and
Power System, portions of which traverse the ATP site, were also designated as a National Historic Mechanical
and Civil Engineering Landmark in May of 1977.
The ATP site’s historical significance is largely consonant with that of the historic district within which it lies,
although it is recommended that the site’s period of significance cover the period from 1793 to 1945 (the
district’s period of significance is considered to be from 1792 to 1924). Particular areas of significance for
which the site is notable are: its function within the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (S.U.M.)
waterpower system; its participation in the concentrated burst of cotton manufacture in Paterson, circa 1807-
15, and in the manufacture of duck (sail cloth) in the 1820s and 1830s; its role as Paterson’s first locus for the
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Allied Textile Printing Site; Paterson, New Jersey September 2010
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AbstrAct (continued)
spinning and weaving of silk; on-site manufacturers’ use of the custom and batch production system within both
the textile machine tool business and the silk manufacturing industry; and its 20th-century conversion into a
modern integrated silk dyeing and finishing plant.
The site has many important associations with prominent figures in American history, notably several members
of the Colt family (S.U.M. development and cotton and firearms manufacture), John Ryle (early silk manufacture
and the city’s water supply system) and James Mayer (textile dyeing). The site has less direct, but still powerful
and identifiable links with national figures such as Pierre Charles L’Enfant and Alexander Hamilton. Within the
site limits are several key properties, the most important of which are the Gun Mill, the Duck Mill, the Todd Mill
and Home Mill, the older sections of the dye works located along the riverbank and a late 18th-century sawmill
site. Spread throughout the site are the various arteries of the S.U.M. waterpower system expressed in the form
of raceways, gates and wheel pits.
Eight principal historical themes have been identified at the ATP site, as follows:
1. Late 18th-Century Improvement of the ATP Site
2. Development of the S.U.M. Waterpower System and Later Power Sources
3. Management of Water Resources and the Commoditization of Water
4. Colt Family Entrepreneurialism
5. The ATP Site Manufacturers as Custom and Batch Production Specialists
6. Cotton and Wool Manufacture
7. Silk Manufacture
8. Textile Dyeing and Finishing
A framework of seven analytical units has been devised to guide and focus the other upcoming work components
of the broader cultural resource investigation of the ATP site, as follows:
1. Early S.U.M. Site Elements
2. S.U.M. Waterpower System
3. Mount Morris Quarry
4. Gun Mill Lot
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5. Waverly and Mallory Mill Lot
6. Passaic Mill Lot
7. Todd Mill Lot
A range of property types has been identified as applicable to the ATP site, most of them industrial in nature and
related to the manufacture of cotton, silk and machinery, and to the power systems that were in use. These are
broadly considered in terms of their potential historic integrity with regard to design, materials and association.
In order to judge the significance and integrity of individual properties within the ATP site six primary questions
are posited as the basis for future analysis.
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tAble of contents
page
Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................i
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................................iii
List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................................v
List of Plates ......................................................................................................................................................vii
List of Tables .......................................................................................................................................................ix
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................xv
1. INTRoDUCTIoN .....................................................................................................................................1-1
A. Project Background ....................................................................................................................................1-1
B. Scope of Work ..........................................................................................................................................1-10
C. Principal Information Sources .................................................................................................................1-11
PART I – NARRATIVE HISTORIES
2. LABoRAToRy FoR AMERICAN MANUFACTURING.......................................................................2-1
A. New American Urban Model: The S.U.M. and Pierre L’Enfant ................................................................2-1
B. Peter, John, Roswell and Samuel: The Colt Family and Industrial Paterson ...........................................2-26
3. SPECIALTY PRODUCTION IN SILK AND IRON.................................................................................3-1
A. Silk and Iron: The Varied Textures of Industry ..........................................................................................3-1
B. Consolidation and Demise: Standard Silk Dyeing and Allied Textile Printers ........................................3-50
4. AN INDUSTRIoUS PEoPLE: LABoR, MANAGEMENT AND CoMMUNITy .................................4-1
A. From Artisan to Industrial Worker, 1794-1860 ..........................................................................................4-1
B. Melting Pot of Silk Workers, 1860-1900 ...................................................................................................4-4
C. Upward Mobility ........................................................................................................................................4-9
D. Labor Unrest ............................................................................................................................................4-10
E. The Silk Strike of 1913 ............................................................................................................................4-11
F. Aftermath of the Strike ............................................................................................................................4-12
G. Allied Textile Printers: The 1970s ..........................................................................................................4-14
PART II – SITE HISTORIES
5. WATER, STEAM AND ELECTRICITY: POWERING THE MACHINES OF INDUSTRY ..................5-1
A. The Landscape of Waterpower ...................................................................................................................5-3
B. Water for Other Uses on the ATP Site: Public Water Supply, Industrial Processing and Sewerage .......5-37
C. Steam ........................................................................................................................................................5-45
D. Electricity .................................................................................................................................................5-55
E. Synthesis ..................................................................................................................................................5-61
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tAble of contents (continued)
page
6. THE MILL SITES .....................................................................................................................................6-1
A. The Mount Morris Quarry .........................................................................................................................6-1
B. The Gun Mill .............................................................................................................................................6-9
C. The Waverly and Mallory Mills ...............................................................................................................6-13
D. The Passaic Mill No. 1 (Duck Mill) .........................................................................................................6-18
E. The Todd Mill ..........................................................................................................................................6-20
PART III – HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
7. CoNTExT AND SIGNIFICANCE ...........................................................................................................7-1
A. The ATP Site in Perspective .......................................................................................................................7-1
B. Historical Themes ......................................................................................................................................7-2
C. Analytical Units .........................................................................................................................................7-9
D. Property Types and Historic Integrity at the ATP Site .............................................................................7-10
E. Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................7-11
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................R-1
APPENDICES
A. Programmatic Agreement of 2002 ............................................................................................................A-1
B. Amended Programmatic Agreement of 2005 ............................................................................................B-1
C. Scope of Work ...........................................................................................................................................C-1
D. An Act to Incorporate the Contributors to the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures ................D-1
E. Tables of ownership and Leasehold for Mill Sites on the ATP Site .........................................................E-1
F. Resumes .....................................................................................................................................................F-1
G. Project Administrative Data .....................................................................................................................G-1
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