Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton first visited the Great Falls in 1778, during the infancy of our nation, and again in
1792, with William Paterson, who was then the governor of New Jersey. He realized the potential of using the power of the Great Falls. Hamilton co-founded the "Society for Establishing Useful
Manufactures" (S.U.M.) that would be operated by private institutions, but because of its public good,
would be supported by the government. Governor Paterson joined in Hamilton’s effort and as a direct
result, the city of Paterson (named in the governor’s honor) became the center of a robust mill industry, later to be dubbed “the Silk City of the World”.
Hamilton commissioned Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a civil engineer who had designed the layout of
Washington, D.C., to design canals, or raceways, that supplied the power generated by the falls.  In 1792 the first cotton spinning mill in New Jersey was built in Paterson. Other early manufacturing giants that made use of the power created by harnessing the energy of the falls included the Rogers Locomotive Company, the Colt Revolver Company, and the company that built the USS Holland (SS-1), the first modern commissioned submarine.