Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park
Alexander Hamilton: The Vision Behind the City
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Transcript
Alexander Hamilton is usually remembered for finance and politics. Paterson reveals another side of his ambitions.
Hamilton believed the young United States needed its own manufacturing base, not only agriculture.
In 1791, the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures was created to develop industry at the Great Falls. The project struggled in its early years, but the idea was significant: government, finance and engineering could work together to build an industrial economy.
Paterson was not simply a factory town that appeared by accident. It was planned as an experiment.