NJ History Nerd Tour #2 ... Paterson, Garfield, Passaic 14Feb-19

NJ History Tour #2
Jim Aupperlee, Bill Bogertman, John Dyksen, Gary Link, Thursday, February 14, 2019, from 10:00am to 4:00pm

This is my second installment on our NJ "History Nerd" Tours...  

Our initial plans today were to visit sites and markers for:

1. Great Falls on the Passaic, including SUM Building, Paterson, NJ and the National Park Service Great Falls Historic District Visitors and Cultural Center, Market Street, Paterson.

2. George and John Francis Ryerson Houses, Goffle Road and Wagaraw Road, Hawthorne, NJ. (Tory and Loyalist cousins living 1 mile apart)

3. Acquackanonk Bridge, Passaic, NJ.

4. Post Ford Monument, Garfield, NJ.

Today’s Actual Activity included:

Passaic Falls, undated

1.  Touring the Paterson Great Falls, National Park Service, Paterson, NJ (envisioned by Alexander Hamilton in 1782) as well as the National Park Service Paterson Great Falls Visitors Center, Paterson. The young Guide inside the Paterson NPS Visitor's Center was informative.

I'm still fascinated by what the Passaic Falls and environment might have looked like in the 15th and 16th centuries, before "change" occurred.

Passaic Falls, 1761, The British Museum

Internet Painting by a favorite history artist, John Buxton. 

Passaic Falls, 2019, S.U.M. building and
hydroelectric plant (still in use) on left.

The Alexander Hamilton Statue reads:
"Great Falls of Paterson on the Passaic,
"Registered National Landmark 1967 and
National Historic Landmark 1976;
This site possesses National significance
in commemorating the History of the
United States of America."

National Park Service Passaic Falls Welcome Center

Looking down river to the Falls from Bridge walkway

Gary headed towards pedestrian walkway bridge.

From the Internet...
"The Great Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the United States, measuring about 77 feet 
(23 meters) high and 280 feet (85 meters) wide. Every day, 2 billion gallons (more than 7.5 billion liters) of water pour over the falls — second in the eastern U.S. only to Niagara Falls.
-----
"The Great Falls of the Passaic River is a prominent waterfall, 77 feet (23 m) high, on the Passaic River in the city of Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey. The Great Falls' raceway and power systems were designated an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1977.
-----
Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park is site to one of the nation's largest waterfalls. ... Hamilton envisioned Paterson, with its water power provided by the Great Falls of the Passaic River, as America's counterpart and response to the industrial revolution occurring in England during the same period."

2.  We toured the Paterson Museum, City of Paterson, NJ, including displays of local historical artifacts, geography and equipment. 

This Museum is housed inside the original 1932 Rogers Locomotive building.  

Inside the NPS Welcome Center...
Paterson Great Falls Map and Layout

Gary pointing to where we were standing inside
the Paterson Museum, Rogers Locomotive Works.

Alexander Hamilton engaged Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a planner/architect for the city of Washington D.C., to layout the town of Paterson and build raceways to supply water to the planned manufacturing mills and businesses.

The S.U.M. building (1791-1914) was built in 1910 to
harness water power for the silk mill raceway system.

Some of the Paterson's Museum's exhibits and displays include:

Model of Paterson, NJ Colt Gun Mill 1836 Rear.

a. A display of Samuel Colt’s “Paterson Colt” collection of rifles and pistols. 

Scotsman Samuel Colt invented the revolving cylinder and his plant worked from 1846-1842, when the business failed.  He invented the first revolving pistol cylinder. 

Model of Paterson, NJ Colt Gun Mill 1836 Front.

Colt's "Paterson" pistols are some of the rarest, most collectible
and most valuable in the world.

Colt Gun Mill Plant ruins down river from Falls
viewed from top of Passaic Falls, 2019.

Paterson, NJ Colt Gun Mill Plant ruins inside.
(Internet site)

b. Baseball's Hall of Fame and Paterson native, Larry Dolby exhibits. We found out that Gary Link's wife, Barbara's father, played baseball with Doby and was in a team picture displayed.

c. Map from 2nd National Bank, Paterson NJ, undated.  The map was made with incredible accuracy and included "the bend in the Passaic River" with all cities and towns west, north and east included.

Mountain Ranges to the northwest include
the First and Second Watchung Mountains.

Notice the northern loop of the Passaic River...
west is Totowa, Preakness, north is Haledon,
Hawthorne, Prospect Park, east is Fair Lawn,
Garfield, Wallington, Passaic.

d. Displays of John Holland’s first two working working submarines, Holland I-Holland Boat #1, 1878 and Holland II-Fenian Ram (raised from Passaic River 1927).  Irishman John Holland is considered "the father of the modern submarine."

Excerpts from the Paterson Visitor Center's Historic Notes: The Invention of Holland's Submarine

Holland's "Boat #1"

"The son of a Coastguardsman, John Philip Holland was born in 1841 in Liscannor Bay, County Clare, on the Western coast of Ireland. After receiving a common school education in his native town, Holland taught in various parts of Ireland from 1858 to 1872. During this time, he conceived the idea of an underwater boat and as a patriot, how it might be used against the British Navy to secure Irish independence. He studied the scanty literature of undersea effort including the work of Bourne, Bushnell, and Fulton. The discouraging failures of these experimenters did not deter Holland and by 1870 he had prepared plans for a submarine boat. Since he lacked financial means to proceed with construction, he laid aside his plans.

In November 1873, Holland emigrated to the United States taking up residence in Boston. A few months later, he was invited to Paterson by Father Whalen to teach mathematics at St. John's Parochial School. Holland resided in Paterson on Willis Street (now Park Avenue) until 1883.

In February 1875, Holland offered his submarine design plan to the United States Navy. It was quickly rejected as an absurd scheme of a civilian landsman.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood or Fenian Society then came to his support and financed his first experimental craft, Holland I.  The Holland I, 14 feet long by 3 feet across by 4 feet high and weighing 2.25 tons, was built at the iron works on Albany Street in New York City and moved to the machine shop of L.C. Todd company in Paterson in the spring of 1878. Here, a petroleum engine patented in 1874 by George Brayton was installed for propulsion. Trials of the craft were conducted in the Passaic River from Lister's Boathouse above the Great Falls. Finally, on June 6, 1878, Holland successfully completed two runs during which the boat was totally submerged at a depth of twelve feet and traveled at the speed of three and a half miles per hour. The maximum submergence time was about one hour.

This success encouraged Holland and his financial backers to build a larger boat, one that had fittings for armaments. In the interest of secrecy, Holland removed the engine and other machinery from Boat #1 and scuttled the hull in 14 feet of water just above the Spruce Street bridge. There it lay at the bottom of the river until 1927 when it was located, minus its turret, by a group of Paterson citizens. It was successfully raised and presented to the Paterson Museum."

Holland's Boat #2, Fenian Ram, was more successful better
equipped...

Fenian Ram, Holland #2 Submarine.

Fenian Ram Holland Submarine #2.

Holland Submarine #1

e. Curtiss-Wright Engines (Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis and WWI fighter and bomber engines)

From Patersongreatfalls.org ... During World War II, Paterson became a major center of Curtiss-Wright engine production. In 1920, the Wright Aeronautical Corporation designed and built the Whirlwind and Cyclone aircraft engines, which made aviation history. In 1927 Charles Lindberg had a 200 Horsepower J-1 air-cooled Whirlwind Engine custom-made for his historic solo Trans-Atlantic flight. Through the 1930's and 40's, the company employed as many as 25,000 workers and manufactured over 120,000 various types of aircraft. It was during this period of time that Paterson was called "The Aviation City".

The Curtiss-Wright Corporation had a lot of history in early aviation with the Wright in the name coming from the Wright Brothers. This company was of significant importance to the outcome of WWII. They manufactured the P-40 Warhawk Fighter, C-46 Commando Cargo Transport, SB2C Helldiver Navy Bomber, Army A-25 Helldiver, Seagull Navy Scout Plane and the P-47 Republic Thunderbolt Fighter."

f. Silk mill manufacturing equipment - Silk Mills were ubiquitous in Paterson, NJ, “known as “The Silk City. ” Silk was manufactured in Paterson by about 30 silk mills from  the late 1875-1925 in "dyeing, spinning, finishing and  

Silk was as valuable as gold in China and smuggling silk worms or mulberry trees out of China was a capital offense.

Silk weaving equipment used "cards" to create patters.
The cards looked similar to those I learned in college
to program FORTRAN computers.

g. Outdoors, the famous and historic Paterson, NJ water Raceways... which funneled the water's power to turn the large flywheels inside the mills, brewery's and locomotive manufacturing plants.

Raceway headed Northeast in Paterson, NJ.

Internet picture...
Paterson Falls Raceway into Rogers Locomotive.

Paterson Raceway, 1838 to Present

h. Local Lenape Indian artifacts, flint and fishing equipment

Display of Passaic River Weir above Fair Lawn
Avenue Bridge.

i. Local and world gems and minerals (including those from Stirling Hill Mine, Ogdensberg, NJ and/or Franklin Mineral Mines, Franklin, NJ, and the Prospect Park Quarry, NJ)

j. Indoors and Outdoors - Rogers Locomotive (#299).  The 1832 Rogers Locomotive complex built 12,000 locomotive engines, 6,700 in Paterson alone; the building had 12 huge bays with rails, just at Rogers.  There were four (4) additional Locomotive manufacturers in Paterson.  Rogers locomotives were used in the Panama Canal, the Transcontinental Railway (#119), the Civil War (The General and Texas), worldwide.

Rogers Paterson Unit #299.

What Rogers Locomotive Works looked like.

Unit #119, in Promontory Summit, UT, in the famous
pictures of the 1869 Transcontinental Railroad joining
of Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads. 
Wilma and I saw this working replica in October 2018,
on our return from completing the Lewis & Clark Trail.

From Patersongreatfalls.org... "Three locomotive manufacturing companies, the Rogers Locomotive Works, Danforth and Cooke Company, and Grant Locomotive Company were located in Paterson. Altogether, these companies produced over 10,000 steam locomotive engines. The Rogers Locomotive Works was the second largest manufacturer in the country. The No. 119 locomotive met the locomotive from the west on the Trans-Continental Railroad in the state of Utah in 1869 when the famous "Golden Spike" was driven.

The two most famous Civil War locomotives, the 1855 Rogers General and the 1856 Danforth, Cooke Texas (which opposed each other in the great railroad chase), were both manufactured in Paterson."

Gary pointing to where the model shows
we're standing inside the building.

Gary pointing to where we are standing inside

on the model.

The Building had 12 massive doors
and bays where the locomotives would
be drive after manufacturing.

Model on the table of the Central Pacific's
Jupiter (left) and the Union Pacific Rogers #119 (right).

Internet... Famous picture of the "Golden Spike" joining of
the Union Pacific Rogers #119 (right) and Central Pacific's
Jupiter (left), Railroads, May 10, 1869.

Glenn Hutton painting.

k. The Museum tour guide, Glenn Hutton, had a didactic, "anti-big business and 'white privilege' chip on his shoulder," but was knowledgeable and an accomplished artist as you can see from his artwork below.

l. A display of Paterson, NJ resident, Lou Costello, from famous comedy duo, "Abbott and Costello." Bud Abbott (1897-1974) and Lou Costello (1906-1959) whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. 

Lou Costello, from Abbott and Costello fame.
Note Costello,s "life mask" in the display case.
Their "Who's on First?..." comedy routine, is
quoted inside the display case as well.

m. Hinchliffe Stadium, a famous 10,000 seat stadium, baseball field, raceway, boxing ring and entertainment venue, completed in 1932 and used throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. Hinchliffe is named after Paterson, NJ mayor, John Hinchliffe. It is one of only a handful of stadiums surviving nationally that once played host to significant Negro League baseball. 

from Wickipedia... "The baseball played at Hinchliffe Stadium was some of the best and most competitive in the game, including prodigious athletes like Monte Irvin, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, and "Cool Papa" Bell, among many others. 

Baseball's Hall-of-Famer Larry Doby, the legendary player who broke the American League color barrier in 1947, grew up in Paterson playing football and baseball in Hinchliffe Stadium for Paterson's Eastside High School, and was scouted from Hinchliffe for the Newark Eagles in 1942.

Hinchliffe became an important venue for boxing (Diamond Gloves, precursor to the Golden Gloves), auto racing (precursor to NASCAR featuring pre-Indianapolis racing and midget car racing events), and professional football."

Hinchliffe is located just up from the Passaic Falls.
Internet picture.

3.  We viewed Statue of Casimir Pulaski, Garfield, NJ  (Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski, 1747-1779, 32 years old; Polish Revolutionary War General fighting for US.. 

One of only 7 people awarded honorary American citizenship).

General Pulaski's Statue on River Road in
Garfield, NJ. Sadly and ironically, there was
no plaque nor indication who this man was.

4.  We viewed the George Washington Monument on the grounds of St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church circle (Saints Peter and Paul Polish Church).

Three of the monument's four sides read:

Directly beyond John Dyksen's shoulder is the
Acquackanonk Bridge spanning the Passaic River
from Garfield to Passaic, NJ.

a. "A tribute of honor to George Washington and his army and a memorial to the spirit that founded and preserved the republic.

b. Washington: Unique in Character, Blameless in Private Life and Public Office, Champion of Liberty, Friend of Man, Alone in Greatness, Honored by the World.

c. On the day of the erection of this memorial, a bronze tablet was set in the wall on lower Main Avenue to mark the site of Washington's while he was in Passaic."

The monument lies inside the grounds of the Catholic Church within 200 yards of the Gregory Street (Acquackanonk) Bridge. We missed an additional 4-6 other monument markers on the grounds or road behind the church. 

St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church. A
half dozen historic sites are located near or on
the grounds, unmarked and unnoticed.

Passaic River Crossing...
Acquackanonk Bridge (and marker) as
seen from Wallington, NJ.

5. We viewed the Gregory Street Bridge aka Acquackanonk Bridge, Wallington, NJ,  where the American Army prevented the British from crossing the Passaic River and capturing the American troops. Washington headquartered his army one or two days at the Blanchard House (see picture).

Passaic River Crossing... Acquackanonk Bridge 
(Gregory Street), seen from Passaic, NJ. 
..........
The Marker reads,
"Acquackanonk Bridge... American troops
encamped between the Hackensack and Passaic
Rivers, were ordered by Washington
November 21, 1776, to cross the Passaic River
here. After burning the bridge, they marched
across Jersey. The Blanchard House was often used
as headquarters."

Acquacknonk Bridge Marker
"Gen. George Washington's Army
pursued by the British crossed over
here November 21, 1776 destroying
the wooden bridge behind them."

I believe the misnamed Passaic, NJ "Blanchard House" was the "Tap House" referred to by historians. It was actually owned by James Leslie in 1776 when Washington stayed there for two days after the Passaic River crossing and before his final retreat to Pennsylvania.

James Leslie Tap House 1776, aka the "Blanchard House," in this 1786. Internet Image

6. We viewed Post Ford Monument, Garfield, NJ where November 1776 flooding and high water prevented the British from crossing after the Acquackanonk Bridge was burned (dismantled).

The monument reads: "Post Ford. Frequently
used by both armies during Revolutionary War."

Jim Aupperlee's (left) Mother's great-grandfather
was John Post of "Post Ford" fame.  So I'm standing
with a legitimate "old NJ History Nerd Pfart!"

===================================

NOTE:

Morris Mountain was where Hamilton, Washington and other Military Officers viewed the Passaic Falls in 1792.  

Morris Mountain was completely demolished on the horseshoe curve from the falls down to the Rapids on the Passaic River, Paterson, NJ.  It was approximately on this site that Washington, Hamilton and their aides viewed the Falls and dreamed of making Paterson a planned city of industry and innovation, including the S.U.M., New Jersey's Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures.

Morris Mountain, left. S.U.M Hydroelectric
plant under construction, 1913.

===================================

NOTE:

A final note about ... Washington's Army NJ Retreat, from Fort Lee to  Washington's Crossing, PA, (across from Trenton, NJ and up the Delaware River), where he commandeered every available Durham boat to prevent the British Army's pursuit), on November 22 to December 20, 1776, with less than 4,000 Continental soldiers... 

In November 1776, after the American Continental Army lost the battle of Fort Lee to the British, the retreating Americans crossed the Hackensack River at New Bridge Crossing in River-Edge, NJ. British General Lord Cornwallis then chased the disheartened, retreating American soldiers along roads in Paramus, Fair Lawn, Garfield, Wallington and Passaic,  (where the retreating American army eventually burned or dismantled the Passaic River Acquackanonk Bridge to prevent the British from crossing), into Clifton, Nutley, Belleville, Newark, New Brunswick and Princeton, NJ. They then continued their retreat south west across NJ through Trenton, crossing the Delaware River into Pennsylvania (north of Washington's Crossing, PA) on December 8, 1776, after a flight of 16 days.

==============================

NOTE:

Quotes from... The Paterson Mill Survey, taken by the City of Paterson, NJ in 2012,  

“The birth and growth of Paterson are peculiar to itself, and have but few parallels or counterparts in those of other cities of the Union.”

 – New Jersey’s Leading Manufacturing Centres, 1887 

"The Paterson Mill Survey of 2012 ... Presents the results of an intensive-level architectural survey of 30 historic mills in the City of Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey. These 30 mills were recognized by Mayor Jeffery Jones (term 2010-2014), the Paterson Historic Preservation Commission's staff and by industrial historians as representing a highly significant but largely under appreciated cultural resource directly associated with the expansion of Paterson when it was known worldwide as "The Silk City" during the half century dating from roughly 1875 to 1925.

This report presents a historic summary placing the mills in historic contexts of industrial architecture and the development of specific industrial sectors including silk, silk dyeing and finishing, machine works, locomotives and aeronautics, which made Paterson known nationally and, in some instance, internationally, for the skill and productivity of its businesses and workers. It also recognizes the mills for the potential significance they may have in association with industrial archaeology and the social history of labor, immigration and ethnicity. 

The "30 mills" survey was initiated by the City of Paterson with the expressed goal of identifying and surveying historic large-scale mills located in parts of the city outside of the Great Falls district. ... that these buildings should play an important role in future development plans and that they are important cultural assets scattered throughout much of the city. In many instances, these large buildings anchor the mixed-use neighborhoods in which they are located. The overarching goal of this survey was to provide data that could be used to guide and promote historic preservation by increasing awareness of these buildings and encouraging their appropriate treatment as historic resources.

During the last quarter of the 19th century, observers of New Jersey and the American industrial scene began to realize that something remarkable was happening in Paterson. It was having a third industrial transformation driven by the production of silk, a most luxuriant and, up until that time, exotic fabric. The 30 mills in this survey date from the late 1870s to the 1920s when Paterson sustained an international reputation as "The Silk City" or the "The Lyons of America." About a third of the mills in the survey were built as silk mills, and another third as silk dyeing and finishing mills. The remaining third represent other significant sectors of Paterson's industrial scene and include several machine works, a locomotive works, a brewery and an aircraft engine plant. One characteristic that all of these mills have in common is that they represent a phase of "steam-age" industrial expansion that spread outward from Paterson's historic water-powered industrial core, which was by necessity located near the Great Falls of the Passaic River."

====================================================

FUTURE History Tour #3 Options:

1. Von Steuben House at New Bridge landing, River Edge, NJ

2. Hackensack, NJ “The Green,” First Reformed Church and General Enoch Poor’s Gravesite,

3. Henry Garrittse Gravesite, The Blanchard House Marker, Post Grave Monument, all on the site of the St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church, Passaic, NJ.

4. General William Alexander/Lord Sterling site, Basking Ridge, NJ

5. John H. Post Gravesite…(quotes from website called Revolutionarywarnewjersey.com)

“The cemetery also contains the grave of John H. Post who served as a private and as a corporal in the militia during the Revolutionary War. His gravestone and that of his wife Elizabeth Ackerman Post are mounted on a concrete post behind the church. The gravestones originally stood 75 feet to the northwest.”

A few yards from John H. Post’s gravestones, there is a monument which pays tribute to the “minute men of 1776 and the soldiers and sailor of the Revolutionary War. “ It mentions John H Post by name, in connection with the destruction of the Acquackanonk Bridge in November 1776.

However, the story associating John H. Post with the destruction of the bridge is an incorrect bit of local lore that began appearing in print at the end of the 1800s. Post’s own military pension application makes no mention of it, and in fact, contradicts details of the bridge story. Also, the monument refers to him as “Captain John H Post,” but his pension application states that he did rise to the rank of corporal, but not to the much higher rank of captain.”

6. Tribute to Minute Men, Soldiers and Sailors Monument

7. Acquackanonk Dutch Reformed Church Burying Ground, aka Old First Protestant Dutch Church Cemetery, Passaic First Reformed Church Cemetery.

8. General Charles Lee's capture at Widow White's Tavern in Basking Ridge, NJ on December 12, 1776.