Monthly Archives: October 2011
The Lenni Lenape Indians knew the Falls well as a prime camping and fishing site. They called it “Totowa,” to sink or be forced down beneath the waters by weight, a tribute to this awesome mass of water. Others have called it “ Passaic Falls ”. Today it is commonly known as the “ Great…
Thomas Rogers, the founder of Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor was born in Groton , Connecticut , on March 16, 1792. Among his relatives was a Thomas Rogers who came to the New World on the “Mayflower.” Earlier in Thomas Rogers’ life he was a carpenter; he served through the War of 1812 and then went…
John Philip Holland was an Irish mathematician who came to America in 1873. During the 1870s, he developed basic designs for submarine boats. The Holland I, a test vessel, was operated in the Passaic River above the Great Falls . The Holland II, a true submersible boat, was built in New York Harbor . That…
Silk manufacture came to Paterson in 1841 when John Ryle and other silk textile workers were hired by Goerge A. Murray to staff a small factory in the attic of the “Gun Mill”. The business succeeded to the point where, in 1855, 600 people were working in “silk”. In 1885, the industry employed almost 25,000…