Paterson: Economy

Paterson has continued its population surge into the 21st century, adapting from its historic focus on fabric production to related industries such as dyeing and polymers. Tourism, too, has become a growth industry in the Great Falls area in specific and in New Jersey in general. The Great Falls/S.U.M. National Historic Landmark District has received $4.147 million in federal funding that will repair and stabilize bridges, preserve the upper raceway on the Falls, and create solutions for deteriorating ruins along the site.

The City of Paterson has created a Department of Community Development that has an aim of revitalizing the city and its neighborhoods through redevelopment, restoration, and attraction and retention of sustainable industries. The city is currently targeting advanced manufacturing businesses, aerospace innovators, and automotive manufacturers.

The Urban Enterprise Zone program has helped the initiation of Main Street facade treatment programs. The Paterson Small Business Development Center has provided the Department of Public Works with funds for sewer repairs, trash receptacles, street paving, and tree maintenance.

Major Industries and Commercial Activity

As the seat of Passaic County, with its Superior Court, the Roe Federal Building, and the Paterson City Hall, government is Paterson's largest single employer. It is followed in importance by health care. Textiles also remain an important industry, but hundreds of smaller industries also keep the former mills humming.

Because of the city's proximity to New York City and easy access via major highways, Paterson has been selected as the right site for many companies that conduct business in the metropolitan New York area. In addition, the city's close proximity to the Port of New York/New Jersey and Newark International Airport make it a desirable business location.

Items and goods produced: garments, textiles, electronic components, machine tools, ribbons, rubber goods, plastics, cosmetics, packaging

Incentive Programs—New and Existing Companies

Paterson is located at the crossroads of major transportation routes, close to international shipping ports, in the heart of the East Coast population center and a stone's throw from New York City. The city offers manufacturers, light industry, warehouse operations, and high-tech companies many benefits. These include tax incentives, quality real estate available at fair prices, and energy savings plans.

Local programs

Paterson's Department of Community Development functions as a one-stop resource for entrepreneurs and companies considering relocation. Services include information, assistance with permit acquisition and licensing and referrals to technical assistance and financing. The Small Business Development Center serves as a major resource for financial and planning assistance for existing small businesses and new enterprise.

Paterson has a designated Urban Enterprise Zone that covers 30 percent of the landmass of the city. Economic development within the UEZ entitles a qualified business to many tax incentives, such as a $500-$1,500 tax credit for hiring city residents or residents of other zone cities who were formerly unemployed or on public assistance.

State programs

New Jersey's Urban Enterprise Zone program allows participating businesses to receive 100 percent exemption for state sales tax for the purchase of most tangible property, including office supplies, equipment, furnishings, and services, including installation and building materials. Repairs and improvements to existing properties are also exempt, as are energy and utility services. Corporate tax credits are available to employers who hire from designated prospective employee pools.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) offers a wide range of financial, real estate development, and technical services to encourage business development and growth in the state. The majority of its assistance is geared toward small and mid-sized businesses and, in more recent years, the high-tech industry. Businesses specializing in technology or biotechnology can transfer tax certificates to other New Jersey businesses, realizing up to 75 percent of their value in cash that can be spent on equipment, facilities, or for other expenses related to the business. The EDA issues bonds to provide financing at favorable interest rates for business ventures, makes low-interest loans, and guarantees loans made by private investors and lenders. It also offers a full range of real estate development services to stimulate both private and public development projects. In addition, the EDA administers a business incentive program that provides grants to expanding or relocating businesses that will create new jobs in New Jersey. A Brownfields Redevelopment Loan Program underwrites the efforts of municipalities and private property owners to remediate hazardous sites around the state.

Further tax credit programs apply to businesses that create new jobs, as well as those companies that invest in recycling equipment. The Commerce division of the State of New Jersey supports approximately 12 "incubator" businesses concentrated on science and technology activities; these businesses receive assistance in facility and equipment costs, along with essential training.

Job training programs

For more than 30 years, the Greater Paterson Opportunities Industrialization Center, Inc., has coordinated a network of employment and training programs that seek to improve the living conditions of economically challenged, unemployed, and underemployed workers through job skill training and education. Specialized programs offer assistance with childcare, transportation, driver education, and mental health services; additionally, the OIC has created a partnership with Passaic County Community College that allows the agency to offer an Opportunities Career Advancement Program with a technological spin.

The Passaic County Workforce Development Center staffs a One Stop Career Center in Paterson, where workers can improve interviewing skills, assess career aptitudes, and practice computer skills. The Workforce Investment Board of Passaic County provides easy access to a number of employment services, including labor statistics, job training, funding resources, and career counseling programs. Continuing education is also available through William Paterson University's specialized center.

All local Workforce Development offices are coordinated by the state Workforce Development Partnership program, which in turn is part of the New Jersey Department of Labor. The state agency provides training programs for new and existing businesses via its Business Resource Center.

Development Projects

In 1998, Passaic County Community College received a grant of $184,425 through the Urban Revitalization Implementation program. The college has partnered with the City of Paterson, the Hispanic Multipurpose Center, Paterson Small Development Center and others in efforts to create a Paterson Community Technology Center that will assist displaced manufacturing workers in learning new technology skills as they cross the digital divide.

In 2000, the Paterson YMCA completed a large-scale renovation of its fitness facilities, the Marcal Company moved to a local 204,000-square-foot facility, and Kirker Enterprises, Inc. purchased and renovated 165,000 square feet of office and warehouse space in the city. Also in 2000, city officials approved the construction of 34 condominiums in a former textile mill in the Great Falls Historic District, and Fairfield Textiles had plans for a 120,000-square-foot expansion of its facilities in the Bunker Hill district of the city. The Great Falls/S.U.M. National Historic Landmark District recently received $4.147 million in federal funding that will repair and stabilize bridges, preserve the upper raceway on the Falls, and create solutions for deteriorating ruins along the site. Ideally, the restoration project will stimulate increased tourism to the Great Falls area.

In late June of 2004, Barnert Hospital opened a downtown women's clinic designed to better address the health issues of a growing urban population. The new facility contributes 7,000 square feet of examination and treatment space to the community medical services available.

Economic Development Information: City of Paterson Department of Community Development, 125 Ellison St., 2nd floor, Paterson, NJ 07505; telephone (973) 321-1212

Commercial Shipping

Newark Liberty International Airport (NLIA) is located less than 15 miles southeast of Paterson, with passenger and cargo service to all points of the globe. Several cargo-specific businesses and structures exist at NLIA, including the FedEx Complex (a regional hub), the United Parcel Service package handling and distribution center, and the 250,000 square foot Air Cargo Center. Cargo processing is state-of-the-art, with capacity to handle sophisticated and delicate materials with a high level of efficiency. The Port Authority maintains an administration building near the Air Cargo Center.

The Port of New York and New Jersey provides further access, via water, to other parts of the United States and the world. The Port Authority is equipped to deal with virtually every type of cargo, including vehicles, live animals, large containers, liquid and dry bulk loads, and more. In 2004, the Port saw more than $110 billion in goods pass through its gates.

The highway system in New Jersey is the most dense in the nation, guaranteeing ample routes into, out of, and around Paterson and the surrounding major metropolitan areas of Newark and New York. Interstates 280, 80, 295 and 95 link Paterson to other large cities, along with a network of U.S. and state highways. Businesses have a wide choice of ground transportation vendors for cargo shipping purposes, from well-established family trucking companies to nationally-known experts such as FedEx and UPS.

Labor Force and Employment Outlook

Paterson has always exhibited economic strength that rests in having a diverse population of hard-working immigrant peoples. As of the 2000 census, the city's population included Latinos from more than a score of Latin American countries, people from the Middle East, Asians of Chinese and Korean descent, and African Americans, in addition to citizens of European ancestry.

It's expected that total non-farm employment in Passaic County will continue to increase through 2012 but at a more gradual rate than it has during the 10 year span from 1992 to 2002. Three particular industry sectors should account for approximately three quarters of the projected growth: education and health services, professional and business services, and retail trade. While job loss in the manufacturing sector is anticipated to decrease, about 18.4 percent of positions in that industry are expected to be sacrificed. In 2012, employment requiring a "high" level of education and experience will account for only 26.4 percent of all jobs, while positions solely requiring on-the-job training should comprise 56.4 percent of total employment.

The following is a summary of data regarding the New York–White Plains metropolitan area labor force, 2004 annual averages.

Size of nonagricultural labor force: 5,007,500

Number of workers employed in . . .

construction and mining: 176,100

manufacturing: 235,500

trade, transportation and utilities: 866,200

information: 202,100

financial activities: 542,100

professional and business services: 743,400

educational and health services: 894,100

leisure and hospitality: 368,400

other services: 209,800

government: 769,300

Average hourly earnings of production workers employed in manufacturing: $15.67 (New Jersey; 2004 annual average)

Unemployment rate: 5.4% (NY–NJ MSA; February 2005)

Cost of Living

The following is a summary of data regarding several key cost of living factors for the Paterson area.

2004 ACCRA Cost of Living Index: Not reported

2004 ACCRA Average House Price: Not reported

State income tax rate: 1.4%–8.97%

State sales tax rate: 6%

Local income tax rate: None

Local sales tax rate: 3%

Property tax rate: $22.97 per $1,000 assessed valuation (2005)

Economic Information: Greater Paterson Chamber of Commerce, 100 Hamilton Plaza, Suite 1201, Paterson, NJ 07505; telephone (973)881-7300

Paterson: History

Early Industrial Development

It all started with the falls—at the end of the last Ice Age about 13,000 years ago, the retreating glaciers left a moraine in the path of the Passaic River. After initially being dammed into a glacial lake, the river managed to escape and began to carve a new route, deepening its canyon through the basalt and ultimately creating the 77-foot Great Falls. It took about 3,000 years for the area to be settled by a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers.

The Lenni-Lenape Indian people were the original inhabitants of the Paterson area. Drawn by ample opportunities for hunting, the Lenape also began to dabble in small-scale agriculture. In the 1620s, Dutch missionaries and trappers began to settle near the Great Falls on the Passaic River, intrigued by a description given by friendly Indians. Property disputes between the Dutch and the Lenape people followed, while hunting, trapping and trading of animal pelts began to deplete the formerly rich regional supplies. Exposure to previously unknown European illnesses took a toll on the Lenape, curtailing the tribe's ability to stem further encroachment by the new settlers. In 1679, the Dutch obtained the first tract of land and began farming what is now the site of the city of Paterson. The settlement stayed small for more than a century but served as a tourist attraction. During the American Revolution, visitors such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Marquis de Lafayette stopped to have lunch at the majestic, 77-foot-high Great Falls.

In 1790, William Paterson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was elected governor of New Jersey. The next year, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, helped form the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (S.U.M) with the power of the Great Falls of Paterson in mind. He wanted to lessen the dependence of the United States on imported products and harness the falls in the manufacture of domestic goods. Hamilton proposed to the U.S. Congress that an industrial district be set up at the site of present-day Paterson. When Congress proved uninterested, he arranged private support for what became America's first planned industrial city, named after the state governor.

In New Jersey, the state legislature voted that the S.U.M. would ever after be exempted from county and township taxes and gave it the right to hold property, improve rivers, build canals, and raise $100,000 through the use of a lottery. The S.U.M., which continued to operate until after World War II, located its plant at the Great Falls of the Passaic River.

Early Labor Problems

Major Pierre l'Enfant, who is best known for later designing the layout of Washington, D.C., was hired to build a system of raceways in Paterson that would direct water to run and operate the mills. In 1794, the initial raceway was completed and water was brought to the first mill, which produced calico goods. This laid the foundation for a substantial textile industry that has flourished into the present.

The city grew out of the S.U.M.'s 700 acres above and below the Great Falls on the Passaic, and its first citizens were primarily workers at the local factories. In the first part of the 1800s, the town continued to grow as an industrial center. If one industry failed, it was replaced by another. By 1825 Paterson had become known as the "Cotton Town of the United States." Reportedly, oxen provided power for the first cotton spinning at a Paterson mill.

America's first factory strike took place in 1828 when Paterson cotton workers quit their looms to protest a change in the lunch hour. The mill owners had decided that it would be better for the child workers if the midday meal took place at one o'clock rather than at noon, thus making a more equal division in the workday. Employees surprised management by demanding the reduction of working hours from 13.5 to 12. Other local workers, including carpenters, masons, and mechanics working in the city, also walked out. This was the first recorded instance of a sympathy strike in the United States. The workers finally lost the strike, but it made a strong impression on the community. Afterward, the owners restored the noon lunch hour.

Paterson became more accessible in 1831 with the opening of the Morris Canal, which was dug through the coal fields of Pennsylvania. A year later the railroad steamed into Paterson, further stimulating the town's development. In 1836 gun-maker Samuel Colt opened the Patent Arms Company and began the manufacture of Colt repeating revolvers. In 1837, a machine shop owned by John Clark produced one of the earliest American locomotives, the Sandusky, which was modeled after an imported English model. That year, the locomotive made its first trip from Paterson to Jersey City and New Brunswick and back. Over the next 40 years, 5,871 engines were to be made in Paterson and shipped all over North and South America.

Silk Industry Blooms; Submarine Launched

Silk manufacturing first began in Paterson in 1840 when a plant was established in Paterson's Old Gun Mill. By then, cotton manufacturing had mainly been moved to New England. Within ten years, Paterson became known as the "Silk City." Except for the cultivation of silkworms, all other stages of silk production took place there. In 1841 the town of Paterson was incorporated, growing to a population of almost 20,000 twenty years later. By 1870, the city was processing two-thirds of the raw silk imported into the United States and was attracting immigrant workers from Ireland, Italy, Germany, and Russia.

Just 18 years later, Paterson's population was approaching 51,000 people. That year, a local schoolteacher and inventor named John Phillip Holland tested the first successful submarine in the Passaic River. Unlike the silk industry, the submarine model didn't immediately have a smooth ride—even when Holland surprised a U.S. Navy ship on a secret maneuver, the Navy did not take his invention seriously and many years passed before the submarine came into widespread use.

During the next decade, a three-hour strike took place in local textile factories, led by foreign workers who had been forced to flee Europe for championing liberal causes. The strike was held to protest unbearable conditions in the silk mills. However, the strike did little to change the miserable working conditions.

Citizens Face Hardships

Paterson's next major strike took place in 1902, by which time the local population had reached more than 105,000 people and the city had become the fifteenth largest in the United States. That year brought many disasters to the city. A February fire destroyed 500 buildings, including city hall and the entire business district. Local firemen, with the help of those from nearby towns, finally halted the fire a mile from its starting point.

Residents were just beginning to recover from that loss when, in March, the swollen Passaic River engulfed the lower portions of the city, sweeping away bridges, homes, and buildings. Damages reached more than one million dollars. Then a few months later a tornado struck, uprooting trees and houses and crippling vital services in the city.

Labor Difficulties Lead to Strike

Paterson's silk industry reached its peak in 1910 when the city population stood at 125,600. At that time, there were 25,000 workers in 350 large plants who wove nearly 30 percent of the silk manufactured in the United States. Three years later, all millwork came to a standstill when laborers under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World labor group struck in support of the continuance of the two-loom system. The owners wanted to increase the number of looms for which each worker would be responsible but the workers balked.

Workers walked out in February 1913, citing a lengthy list of longstanding abuses of labor and poor worker-management relations. The employers then declared a lockout, meaning that workers could not return without the permission of the factory owners. Supporters of the strikers began marching on picket lines in front of the mills. After the violent death of a picketer, nearly 15,000 workers joined in a funeral procession, and even children struck in support of their worker-parents. Famous American radical John Reed, who was jailed during the walk-out, staged an enormous "Paterson pageant" in Madison Square Garden in New York City to raise money for the striking workers. But the greatest strike in the history of Paterson ended in the defeat of the workers, who finally went back to their jobs on management's terms.

Death of the Silk Industry

By 1920, Paterson's population had reached nearly 136,000 people. After World War I, the Wright Aeronautical Corporation began manufacturing airplane motors at an old Paterson silk mill, and for a time airplane engine production became the city's primary industry. But after World War II the industry moved elsewhere.

In 1924, 20,000 silk workers began an unsuccessful battle against a proposed four-loom system. Manufacturers decided they were fed up with labor disputes and began seeking new sites in new cities with lower taxes, cheaper power, and less militant workers. By 1925, the mills began to leave Paterson. Although 700 plants still operated in the city, they were much smaller than their former size.

As the years passed, the local textile industry continued to diminish. This was primarily due to antiquated plants that were unable to compete with those in other parts of the country, the introduction of synthetic materials such as nylon and rayon, and the breakdown of large working units into smaller shops. By 1935, only 4,000 workers were weaving silk in Paterson. In time, virtually all silk production there disappeared.

By the 1930s, the fabric dyeing industry was growing and soon Paterson's plants were producing 70 percent of the nation's silk and rayon. But as the years went on, this industry shrank as most of the mills moved elsewhere. During the second half of the twentieth century, Paterson experienced a great population loss and its stature as an important industrial city was diminished, although remnants of the garment industry still remain.

Present Day Paterson: Weaving Together the Past and the Future

In 1976, Paterson's Great Falls were declared a national natural landmark, marking the swath the river and falls have cut in the actual as well as the figurative landscape of the area. The city's fascinating history is preserved in literary works by two great twentieth-century poets, William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg. Williams's work entitled Paterson was published in five books in the mid-twentieth century and is considered one the greatest philosophical poems of the century. The Passaic River serves as the thread that binds the poems together.

While labor unrest ostensibly brought down the fabric industry in Paterson, those early protests generated new legislation that addressed a multitude of workplace issues such as child labor, worker safety, a minimum wage, and limitations for the workday. The price for being a system agitator has been a 36 percent decline in manufacturing industry over the past 10 years in the greater Paterson metropolitan area, although the region maintains its role in fabric dyeing. The city also remains a cultural melting pot as a result of its industrial past.

In recent years, Paterson has managed to make use of its former industrial buildings, which are enjoying new life as historical sites. The S.U.M. historic district has become a national historic landmark, with many of the buildings converted to a variety of other uses; the Rogers Locomotive Erecting Shop has become the Paterson Museum, which highlights the city's industrial history and is known for its Native American relics and collection of New Jersey minerals. While appreciating its past, Paterson is in the process of transitioning to being a service provider to the East Coast municipalities within its reach; finance, sales, and healthcare are all areas of new economic growth for the former textile powerhouse.

Historical Information: Passaic County Historical Society, c/o Lambert Castle, Valley Rd., Paterson, NJ 07503; telephone (973)247-0085; fax (973)881-9434; email [email protected]

Paterson: Recreation

Sightseeing

Perhaps the most spectacular sights in Paterson are Lambert Castle, perched on a mountain top, and the dramatic Great Falls. Lambert Castle, located on the Garrett Mountain Reservation, is a turn-of-the-century stone castle that once belonged to Catholina Lambert, a wealthy silk manufacturer. The Lambert family lived in the building from 1893 until 1923, naming it Belle Vista for its stunning vantage point. Today the castle houses a museum on park-like grounds that provide a picnic area and cross-country track. The house features hand-carved oak interior touches and a lovely terrace. In 1995 the County Freeholders began a $5 million renovation of the castle, finishing in September of 2000.

The Great Falls on the Passaic River can best be viewed from at site at McBride Avenue and Spruce Street. A brochure outlining a walking and/or driving tour and information about guided walking tours in the S.U.M. Historic District is available at the Great Falls Visitor Center, which also arranges guided walks around the Falls and the restored mill buildings that were once powered by the rushing waters.

The Paterson Museum is housed in the Thomas Rogers Locomotive Erecting shop in the Great Falls Historic District of Paterson. The museum's exhibits reflect the evolution of the city as a major U.S. industrial center. Machinery used for dyeing, winding, warping, and weaving silk are featured. The museum showcases the Paul R. Applegate, Jr., Collection of rare Colt firearms, as well as other Paterson-made firearms. Also on display are hulls of the first submersibles made by John Philip Holland, known as the "father of the submarine." The museum's simulated mine yields a fine mineral collection, including a fluorescent mineral display.

Botto House in Haledon, New Jersey, a historic landmark built in 1908, is home to the American Labor Museum. The house, which once belonged to mill worker Pietro Botto, was a meeting place for mill workers who planned the famous 1913 Paterson Silk Strike. The museum has restored period rooms, a labor library, old-fashioned gardens, and changing exhibits that highlight the lives of circa-1900 immigrant families. The museum also offers tours of sites important to the local history of the labor movement.

Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are only a daytrip away from Paterson, completing the history of the mills with the story of the immigrants who carried the industry on their backs while working for the labor rights enjoyed by U.S. citizens of the present day.

Arts and Culture

The Paterson Museum hosts permanent and rotating displays of the works of local artists in addition to a store of historical information about the city and region. Manuscripts, materials, looms, warping equipment, and photographic collections trace the artistry of the fabric and submarine industries in northern New Jersey. More contemporary works of art can be found year-round at the Ben Shahn Galleries located at William Paterson University.

William Paterson University (WPU) is also the scene of performances by the High Mountain Symphony, which presents three performances per season as it draws upon the combined talents of faculty and students at the university. For more than 25 years, WPU has been hosting nationally-recognized jazz performers in an ongoing musical series. Quite an ensemble of other musical offerings lie outside the bounds of the Paterson area—opera performances in Newark, off- and on-Broadway musicals in New York City, and small community theaters are plentiful.

Paterson has been portrayed by poets as diverse as Allen Ginsberg and William Carlos Williams The Paterson Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College (PCCC) is widely hailed as a leader in helping poets craft their art. The Center organizes more than 100 activities each year, including readings and presentations by internationally famous poets. The Center's Paterson Poetry Marathon each spring involves week-long workshops in the local public schools that culminate in a public program. Part of the city's historic district has become a de facto artists' colony for painters, writers, sculptors, and photographers.

PCCC's Cultural Affairs Department offers the community programs in art, music, theater, dance, and literature. The Learning Resource Gallery offers monthly art exhibits, lectures, and workshops. The Quidnunc Society also provides local residents with an opportunity to engage in cultural activities.

Arts and Culture Information: Discover Jersey Arts, PO Box 306, Trenton, NJ 08625; telephone (800)THE-ARTS

Festivals and Holidays

In September, the American Labor Museum's Annual Labor Day Celebration highlights the history and importance of the worker in northern New Jersey. Later in the month, the city's Recreation Department holds a fundraising street fair with rides, games, food, music, and arts and crafts booths. In February, Newark keeps the New Year party going with the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration coordinated by the Newark Museum. The traditional Lion Dance and holiday delicacies are on hand to mark this important event.

In early spring Paterson sponsors a three-day Great Falls Festival that features music and entertainment from local and outside performers, skywalks over the falls and other high wire acts, crafts, rides, and games. An international food court serves dishes from the 53 ethnic groups representative of the city's various citizens. A parade from the American Labor Museum to the Great Falls is the high point of the event.

The Newark Museum hosts an Asian Heritage Festival in early May, with Japanese drumming, Dancing Bells, and the Indian Folk Dance taking center stage. Fair weather in the month of June welcomes the Annual Sol Stein Golf Open, which is held at the High Mountain Golf Club. Throughout the summer, the Downtown Paterson Special Improvement District offers events such as music festivals, Easter promotions, and Mother's Day celebrations. In mid-July, the Passaic County Fair brings a homespun flavor back to the Silk City metropolitan area.

Sports for the Spectator

Passaic County Community College presents women's and men's basketball games, and men's soccer. William Paterson University competes in Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association; team sports include baseball, basketball, football, track and field, volleyball, and swimming. Nearby Newark and New York City offer major league play in all major sports. The Newark Bears professional baseball club plays in the independent Atlantic League, and the MetroStars contend in Major League Soccer play at Giants Stadium in Secaucus.

Sports for the Participant

Rifle Camp Park in Paterson contains fitness and jogging trails maintained by Passaic County government. A toboggan chute and sleigh riding hills make the park fun all year long; nature trails and a bird watching blind add education to the experience. The park offers a Nature Center and an observatory that provide special programs for local students and the general public.

The Garret Mountain Reservation abuts the Rifle Camp Park; the reservation is a 568-acre recreational area that reaches a 500 foot elevation at its topmost point. Any number of activities are available to visitors, depending on the time of year—in seasonable weather, the equestrian center can arrange for trail rides, or hikers can set off on the network of marked paths. Barbour's Pond can be fished in warmer weather or skated upon after hard freezes; in the winter, the hiking trails become cross-country ski routes.

Passaic County Recreation also oversees Tranquility Ridge Park and Friendship Park, two areas that have been left largely untouched and natural after being rescued from imminent development. Activities are more limited in these areas in order to leave little or no trace. Similarly, the 512-acre Apshawa Preserve has been carefully protected; it lies adjacent to a 68-acre parcel owned by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Canoeing and rafting can be had on sections of the Passaic River, offering the opportunity to bird watch while lazily floating along.

Passaic County also operates a golf course located in Wayne, New Jersey. Two 18-hole courses are available, along with practice greens and a shag field. The facility is open year-round, only closing on major holidays. The communities surrounding Paterson maintain additional golf courses and recreation programs that offer a selection of athletic outlets.

Shopping and Dining

Paterson's thriving downtown connects an ever-expanding array of eclectic, unique stores where shoppers can find furniture, clothing, art and collectibles, antiques, gourmet and natural foods, and linens. The city also offers two farmers' markets open all year and vending fresh produce, poultry, bakery products, grapes and wine presses, seafood, and meats. Discount stores, factory outlets, and malls are all available in or near the Paterson area.

Most any taste bud can be tantalized in Paterson and northern New Jersey, with a discernible preference for Asian cuisines such as Chinese fare and Japanese sushi. Italian and Mexican cooking are well-represented among northern New Jersey restaurants, along with basic American tastes like steaks and chops. True to its diverse immigrant history, the eatery options in the Paterson region are limitless and cover areas of the world such as India, Greece, the Middle East, Cuba, France, Ireland, New England, and Korea. An after-dinner espresso can be found at one of several locally owned coffeehouses in the city.

PATERSON

PATERSON , city in N.E. New Jersey. Jews first settled in Paterson in the early 1840s. In 1904 there were 1,250 Jews in the city, and the Jewish population increased to about 35,000 in the late 1940s. However, by 1960 the number declined to 15,000. By 2000, the Jewish population of Paterson declined to less than 1,000 – with approximately 30,000 Jews living in the surrounding communities of Wayne, Fair Lawn, Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff, Oakland, Pompton Lakes, Glen Rock, and Ridgewood. Jewish settlers of the 1840s came from Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary. They were primarily tailors and merchants. In 1847 a group of them organized Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, becoming the first Jewish congregation in New Jersey. In the late 1870s Congregation B'nai Jeshurun gradually changed from a traditional Orthodox synagogue to a more liberal Reform congregation. An Orthodox group was to maintain a daily minyan on a lower level through their years in Paterson. In 1894 a new large, impressive synagogue was built on the corner of Broadway and Straight Street due to the generosity of Nathan *Barnert, a Jewish philanthropist, who served as mayor of Paterson from 1883 to 1886 and was re-elected in 1889. A bronze statue at the Paterson City Hall Plaza was dedicated in his honor in 1925. Barnert, who also served two terms as alderman in the 1870s, was later to establish the Miriam Barnert Hebrew Free School, the Nathan and Miriam Barnert Hospital and the Barnert Home for Orphans and the Aged.

In 1886 the Russian and Polish Jews who had migrated to Paterson in the early 1880s did not wish to affiliate with Congregation B'nai Jeshurun because of this synagogue's trend toward Reform Judaism. They organized their own congregation, Congregation B'nai Israel. Another large and impressive synagogue was built on Godwin Street, becoming known as the Big Shul. Romanian Jews established Ahavath Joseph Congregation, known as the Little Shul, a block away on Godwin Street in the early 1900s. The Lubavitch founded the United Brotherhood Anshai Lodz or Polish Shul on Fair Street in the early 1900s. In 1907 a Conservative synagogue, Congregation Emanuel, was dedicated on Van Houten Street, moving to Broadway and East 33^rd Street in 1929. Congregation Ohav Sholom, another Orthodox shul, was founded about 1915. The Water Street Shul was organized and built on the North West side of the Passaic River. Paterson also maintained a mikveh on Paterson Street. Even with this growth in Jewish life, there was growing antagonism towards Jews and other "new immigrants" at this time. Newspaper editorials clearly indicated that undesirable Europeans were those from southern and Eastern Europe, including the Jews then beginning to arrive from Russia and Poland. These Jewish immigrants, who had fled the Russian pogroms, especially those in the Polish textile centers of Lodz and Bialystok in 1905 and 1906, were attracted to the "Silk City" of Paterson. A sampling of Russian Jews in Paterson reported by the U.S. Immigration Commission in 1911 indicated that more than 91% had worked in textile mills prior to coming to the United States. Gradually the new Jewish immigrants moved into a troubled silk industry. New and improved machinery had made it possible for employers to replace skilled, expensive English, German, and Irish labor with less skilled and cheaper Jewish, Italian, and other "new immigrant" labor, creating antisemitic feeling in the city. The exposure of Jewish workers to radical ideas, labor organizations, and strikes in Europe helped to continue Paterson's long tradition of labor troubles. Close to 5,000 Jews worked in the silk industry in 1913. When a bitter strike erupted that year, the Jewish textile workers joined other ethnic workers to fight against the four-loom system, the fine system, and the blacklist. As labor difficulties continued even after the strike, many silk manufacturers moved their factories to Pennsylvania coalmining towns and to the South. Many Jews acquired machinery during the 1920s and opened small shops often with only one or two employees. During the 1920s, as many as 90% of the silk-manufacturing shops in Paterson were operated by Polish Jews. Competition was intense, and few shops prospered. By the end of World War ii the silk industry in Paterson had virtually disappeared, while the city's other important sources of employment and economic activity, in addition to manufacturing, retail, and wholesale establishments, began a period of stagnation.

After 1940, the city's suburbs, Clifton to the south, Fair Lawn to the east, and Wayne to the west, grew substantially, as did their Jewish populations. The number of Jewish congregations in Paterson declined after 1945. In 2005, the last remaining synagogue in Paterson – Temple Emanuel – was preparing to move to Franklin Lakes, the present home of Barnert Temple-Congregation B'nai Jeshurun. The only Jewish presence remaining in Paterson would be the yeshiva on Park Avenue and the Jewish Federation Apartments.

Distinguished Jewish residents, or former residents of Paterson, include United States Senator Frank *Lautenberg, who served in the Senate from 1982 to 2000 and was elected to a fourth term in 2002; father-and-son poets Louis and Allen *Ginsberg; former Democratic Congressman Charles S. Joelson, who served as a judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey; Jacob Fabian, theater mogul in the 1920s whose generous philanthropy made it possible to build the magnificent and historic Temple Emanuel sanctuary; and Henry and Joe Taub, founders of Automatic Data Processing (adp). Henry Taub was the president of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Passaic County Jewish Organizational Life

Yavneh Academy was founded in 1942 as the Paterson Yavneh Yeshiva. It started with six children in its kindergarten. In 1954, it erected a school in Paterson and later moved to Paramus in 1981. A Workmen's Circle Children's school, also called the "Shula," opened in Paterson in 1921. The Gerrard Berman Day School: Solomon Schechter of North Jersey opened in Pomp-ton Lakes in 1985 and moved to its current Oakland location in 1993. In 1906 a small group of young women who met regularly at the Barnert Hebrew Free School came together to form the ywha. In 1914 the ymha was incorporated and five years later it moved to Orpheus Hall on Broadway. In 1976 the ym-ywha of North Jersey opened in Wayne to serve the cultural, social, educational, health, and physical recreation needs of the suburban Passaic County Jewish community. In the 1970s Wayne became a major hub of Jewish life for suburban Passaic. It had three synagogues – Congregation Shomrei Torah, Temple Beth Tikvah, and the Chabad Center of Passaic County. The Jewish Federation of North Jersey was evolved from the Jewish Community Council of Paterson, founded in 1933 to coordinate the work of various organizations in their local and national fund-raising campaigns. In 2004, the Federation merged with the uja Federation of Bergen County & North Hudson to form the uja Federation of Northern New Jersey. In 1944 the Jewish Social Service Bureau of Paterson was formed to oversee the welfare of homeless Jewish children. This agency was later to become Jewish Family and Children's Service. Daughters of Miriam Home for Orphans and the Aged first opened in 1921 in Paterson as an orphanage and elderly shelter. In 1926 it moved to its current location in Clifton and became strictly a nursing home in the 1950s.

[Alan J. Grossman (2^nd ed.)]

bibliography:

Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey, Our Paterson Jewish Heritage (1987); W.N. Jamison, Religion in New Jersey (1964); R.J. Vecoli, People of New Jersey (1965); U.S. Immigration Commission, Immigrants in Industries, Pt. 5: Silk Goods… (1911); W. Nelson and C.A. Shriner, History of Paterson and Its Environs, 3 vols. (1920); J. Haberman, Jews in New Jersey (Ms. Rutgers University); M.W. Garber, "Silk Industry of Paterson New Jersey" (1968; unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University); J. Nathans, "The World of the Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey," unpublished address (2002).

Paterson: Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

In 1998, a New Jersey Supreme Court decision required that the Paterson Public School District offer students an education at the level guaranteed by the constitution, spurring whole school reform efforts throughout the district. The emphasis in all Paterson schools was on individualized learning in a civil environment; in response, a number of specialized academies and charter schools have been created. At the Martin Luther King, Jr., Educational Complex, the Coalition of Essential Schools model drives educational and student conduct services. An underpinning of democracy encourages student participation, civility, and commitment to educational resources. The Dr. Frank Napier, Jr., School of Technology is unique in its high tech offerings to elementary school-age students, preparing them both for their academic and career futures. The Roberto Clemente School, located in a predominantly African American and Latino area of Paterson, celebrates the multicultural aspects of the city and the microcosm of the classroom. The EARTH Academy (Environmental Academy for Research, House Technology and Health) is based at Eastside High School and combines experiential learning during fieldtrips with classroom instruction. Rosa Parks High School houses the Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts, offering a college preparatory curriculum designed to lead students directly into degree programs in music, drama and creative writing.

Paterson Public School District is also the umbrella for several early childhood education programs, adult continuing education, and alternative schools for students whose learning styles or discipline issues make them candidates for discovery, expeditionary, and experiential education.

The following is a summary of data regarding the Paterson public school system as of the 2004–2005 school year.

Total enrollment: 27,000

Number of facilities

elementary and middle schools: 29

high schools: 5

other: 3 middle school academies; 23 high school academies

Student/teacher ratio (2004): 11:1

Teacher salaries

minimum: $40,000

maximum: $85,000

Funding per pupil: $12,351

An assortment of religiously-based private schools also operate in the area.

Public Schools Information: Paterson Public School District, 33 Church Street., Paterson, NJ 07505; telephone (973)321-0909

Colleges and Universities

One of nine New Jersey public institutions of higher education, William Paterson University sits on 370 wooded acres in the northern part of the state. The student body of 11,409 men and women can concentrate in any of 31 undergraduate programs or 19 graduate programs within its five colleges, including Education, Business, Arts and Communication, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Specialized learning centers for high-tech finance and professional sales have been added to the campus, reflecting Paterson's continuing move to service industries.

Passaic County Community College (PCCC) is a two-year public college with its main campus in Paterson and branches in the New Jersey communities of Wanaque and Wayne. PCCC offers its enrollment of 6,300 the opportunity to pursue more than 40 associate degrees and certifications in such fields as allied health, business, liberal arts, criminal justice, nurse education, radiography, and technology. The school also offers extensive programs in basic skill English, reading, math, and English as a second language. Some courses are also instructed in Spanish.

The Garret Mountain campus of Berkeley College of Business confers the degree of associate in applied science in such fields as business, accounting, management, travel and tourism, paralegal studies, and various fashion fields. The school enrolls more than 700 full- and part-time students.

Libraries and Research Centers

The Paterson Free Public Library was established in 1885, making it the oldest public library in New Jersey. The system consists of a main library facility and three branches, housing more than 308,000 volumes and more than 350 periodical subscriptions. Special collections include African American history materials, collectible banknotes, genealogy materials, local history, and career resources. Local art collectors have over the years bestowed a wealth of paintings to the library, with an emphasis on late 19th and early 20th century works. In 2002 the library was the recipient of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grant, allowing for installation of 34 new computers throughout the Free Public Library system. Internet and word processing functions are available to library visitors. The library system additionally has opened a Community Learning Center that advertises GED preparation, reading and basic math tutoring, English as a Second Language instruction, and family literacy classes to the public.

The Passaic County Historical Society Library maintains special collections on Passaic County and northern New Jersey history. St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center supports its graduate medical education program with a full medical sciences library consisting of 3,000 books, 300 current periodicals and journals, and 600 audio-visual resources. Students can also tap into the National Library of Medical Databases onsite. The hospital has become more involved with clinical and basic research over the years, including clinical trials of various drug interventions. Recent research studies included exploration of a specific protein that contributes to severe bleeding disorders in patients with leukemia.

The David and Lorraine Cheng Library at William Paterson University provides access to a wealth of printed materials, including maps, atlases, newspapers, dictionaries, government publications, and almanacs. Library users can surf online databases for research and reference materials. The university also houses research facilities equipped to study biochemistry, molecular biology, neurobiology, and DNA.

Other local libraries include those of Passaic County Community College and the Passaic County Law Library.

Public Library Information: Paterson Public Library, 250 Broadway, Paterson, NJ 07501; telephone (973)321-1223