Qualla: Great Falls of the Passaic: Where Hamilton Powered a Nation

Great Falls of the Passaic: Where Hamilton Powered a Nation: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tomwsulcer, CC0. Thirteen thousand years ago, a glacier blocked the Passaic River's shortcut through the Watchung Mountains. The river had no choice. It carved a new, circuitous route around the north end of the range, and where it met a cliff of 200-million-year-old basalt, it simply fell -- 77 feet straight down, one of the largest waterfalls in the eastern United States. The Lenape people built a settlement beside it. Dutch colonists arrived in the 1690s. And in 1778, a young Alexander Hamilton stood at the edge, watching the water thunder into the gorge below, and saw not a waterfall but a machine.

Image: Tomwsulcer | CC0

Great Falls of the Passaic: Where Hamilton Powered a Nation: Hamilton's National Manufactory

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ssathya, CC BY-SA 3.0. While other founding fathers dreamed of yeoman farmers, Hamilton dreamed of factories. He believed America's future demanded manufacturing -- goods produced at home rather than imported from Europe. The Great Falls offered exactly what he needed: massive, reliable water power wit...

Image: Ssathya | CC BY-SA 3.0

Great Falls of the Passaic: Where Hamilton Powered a Nation: The Machines That Made America

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit FirozAnsari, CC BY-SA 4.0. The industries that grew beside the falls read like a catalog of American invention. The Rogers Locomotive Works opened in 1832, building the engines that would push railroads across the continent. Samuel Colt established his manufacturing company here in 1837, perfecting the rev...

Image: FirozAnsari | CC BY-SA 4.0

Great Falls of the Passaic: Where Hamilton Powered a Nation: Silk Strikes and the Price of Power

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit USACE NY, Public domain. The same water that powered industry attracted waves of immigrants from Europe, many arriving without English, all arriving without leverage. Workers were exploited from the start. The conditions in Paterson's mills -- long hours, low wages, dangerous machinery -- made the city a...

Image: USACE NY | Public domain

Great Falls of the Passaic: Where Hamilton Powered a Nation: From Industrial Ruin to National Park

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Johniskew, CC BY-SA 3.0. Silk production moved south where labor was cheaper. The mills closed. The raceways went dry. The SUM society that Hamilton had founded operated until 1945, then sold its charter and property to the city. By the mid-20th century, Paterson was a study in industrial decline. But th...

Image: Johniskew | CC BY-SA 3.0

Great Falls of the Passaic: Where Hamilton Powered a Nation: Water Still Thundering

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Stuart Zharnest, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today the Great Falls draws a record 177,000 visitors annually, as tallied in 2016. The falls are viewable from Haines Overlook Park on the south and Mary Ellen Kramer Park on the north, with a footbridge over the gorge -- historically the eighth to span this chasm -- serving as ...

Image: Stuart Zharnest | CC BY-SA 4.0