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Jersey town was focal point of Alexander Hamilton’s vision for American self-sufficiency

BY ERIC MODEL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Suddenly, it’s Labor Day – the unofficial end of summer; start of school; the Jerry Lewis Telethon.

For some, the holiday remains a day of significance in its own right - an annual holiday devoted to the recognition of working people's contribution to society. There are well-known observances in places like New York, Detroit and Washington, DC. Then there are other notable locations like Lowell, Massachusetts and locally in Paterson, N.J.

The industries that developed in Paterson over the course of centuries were drawn and powered by the 77-foot high Great Falls, and a system of waterways that harnessed the power of the falls. It was Alexander Hamilton who founded Paterson in 1792 at the foot of these falls, the most powerful cataract east of Niagara Falls. At the time, he envisioned a model for American economic self-sufficiency, a place to establish the primacy of immigrant-powered manufacturing over the slave-based agriculture practiced in Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia.

The city began growing and flourishing around the falls, and until 1914 the mills were powered by the waterfalls. The district originally included dozens of mill buildings and other manufacturing structures associated with the textile industry and later, the firearms, silk, and railroad locomotive manufacturing industries. In fact, Paterson’s mills produced more locomotives than anywhere else in America, and more silk than anywhere in the world, earning Paterson the nickname “Silk City.”

As Paterson fulfilled Hamilton’s vision as a manufacturing hub, it also became a mecca for immigrant laborers who worked in its factories as he had envisioned.

Paterson was also the site of historic labor unrest that came with such profound industrialization – an anti-child labor movement and a six-month long silk strike of 1913 that demanded an eight-hour work day and better working conditions. However, these demands were squashed by the employers and the workers were forced to return to work  under pre-strike conditions.

Factory workers labored long hours for low wages and under dangerous conditions and lived in crowded tenement houses around the mills. Over time, these inequities were addressed by the advent of reforms in the American workplace that now are widely enjoyed and taken for granted.

But eventually, the silk mills moved south where there were no labor unions, and later overseas.

During World War II, Paterson also played an important role in the aircraft engine industry.

These days, Paterson is home to the American Labor Museum. The museum, actually located in next-door Haledon, is housed in the Botto House National Landmark, a 1908 Victorian home, which belonged to silk mill worker Pietro Botto and his wife Maria.

The Botto House was the meeting place for over 20,000 mill workers during the 1913 silk strike. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Upton Sinclair and other champions of the labor movement addressed thousands of laborers from the balcony of this house.  Thus, when it comes to labor’s rich tradition in the U.S., The Botto House and Paterson holds a special place in American history.

Today’s American Labor Museum gives significant insight into the history of work, workers, and the labor movement in the United States, with an emphasis on the ethnicity and immigrant experience of American workers.

The museum has restored period rooms, a labor and immigrant library (including books, audio and video), Old World Gardens (including a bocce court, grape arbor, root cellar and chicken coop), and exhibits that change on a periodic basis.

On-site educational programs include:

“Millworker/Millowner,” (in conjunction with Lambert Castle and Great Falls Visitor Center) and the  Labor Education Tour (in conjunction with the Paterson Museum and Great Falls Visitor Center).

This year the 18th annual Labor Day Parade, co-sponsored by the Museum, the Borough of Haledon, and the City of Paterson, will celebrate the labor movement and organized labor was held September 6.

Despite the festivities, Paterson finds itself at the center of a controversy about its historic district. This past spring, President Obama signed legislation turning the Great Falls Historic District into a national area. However, there are critics, none from the area, who persist in advancing the claim that the Great Falls National Area is nothing more than a “pork park” – a parochial economic development scheme.

An actual visit to the area by such critics would quickly dispel such notions. Clearly, this is a place of history – a place whose story is as powerful as its waterfalls.

As the years pass, there are fewer and fewer souls around who actually lived through Paterson’s golden industrial age. But some old-timers can still be found – such as Steve Schrammel of Hawthorne, a former member of the local Union 191.

“We were a busy place,” related Schrammel, who first started working in Paterson’s factories in 1939.

“During the war we prepared engines for Curtis-Wright and then worked for GE and others until they left town and moved out West in the 1980s,” he recalled.

Schrammel described how Botto House became a meeting place for the workers left behind when GE left town. He and others would get together there for Tuesday breakfasts, and to enjoy each other’s company. They continue this tradition, so  many years later, though the group is down to some 10 or 12 on most weeks .

“The Museum was there for us when we needed it,”   Schrammel said as he reminisces.

It is this spirit that acts as a guiding star at the American Labor Museum, and to those who will gather on Labor Day.

So, if you find yourself on I-80 traveling over the long Labor Day weekend, and you see the sign for Paterson, perhaps you’ll pause for a second  and contemplate just what Paterson and Labor Day should represent to us all beyond the store sales and the last pf summer barbecues.