On May 13, 2023, members and friends of the Architects League of Northern New Jersey gathered for a preview tour of the magnificent restoration of Hinchliffe Stadium led by project architect Michael Hanrahan, AIA, of Clarke Caton Hintz.

 

 

 

 

Next, the group traveled to Great Falls National Park for lunch overlooking the falls followed by a meet-up with a Hinchliffe cheerleader for a bit of her history at the stadium in the 1960s and a ranger-led tour. The Great Falls is 77 feet high and 260 feet wide. More than 2 billion gallons of water can drop over daily. It is the 2nd largest waterfall, by volume, east of the Mississippi River, behind only Niagara Falls. The Great Falls were carved by glaciers that receded 13,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age and is the reason for the amazing history of Paterson, NJ, America’s first planned industrial city. 

 

The last stop was the wonderful Paterson Museum, where our guide shared the long list of “firsts” in Paterson’s remarkable history of revolutionary ideas and experiences! The city was named for Governor William Paterson, one of the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Paterson was founded in 1792 by Alexander Hamilton and the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures. It is the first planned industrial center in the United States, and the factories and mills were powered by the Great Falls. Hamilton came up with the idea while he was with George Washington and the Continental Army. The city became an industrial powerhouse. Firearms and locomotives were made in the city. During its boom years, the city became known for silk mills, which gave it its nickname, Silk City.

 

Photos by Chris Brand, AIA, Joel Ives, AIA, and Stacey Kliesch, AIA