THE
A.T.P. SITE
SILK
CITY OF THE WORLD
On
seven acres below
the Great Falls
and along the
Passaic River, is
an area called the
Allied Textile
Printing (ATP)
site, where the
Colt Gun Mill was
located and where
textiles were
produced
continuously for
200 years. John
Ryle produced the
nation's first
skein of silk
here. The Jacquard
loom, which was
brought to
Paterson in the
early 1870's,
gave a boost to
the silk industry.
This type of loom
enabled the
weaving of
intricate patterns
in fabrics,
ribbons, and
military
ceremonial attire.
During
the late 19th
century and early
20th century
Paterson was known
as the "Silk
City" of the
world. At that
time,
approximately 121
firms in Paterson,
involved in every
facet of
manufacturing the
silk product,
employed thousands
of workers in
their mills. In
February of 1913,
25,000 silk
workers went on
strike to improve
working
conditions. After
seven months, the
workers went back
to work, defeated.
Excerpts
from the Maxman
Report:
The
ATP site lies at
the heart of the
Paterson Historic
District,
encompassing many
of the
manufacturing
establishments
that contributed
to Paterson's
fame as "Silk
City." The
site is bounded on
the north and west
by the Passaic
River, close to
the Great Falls,
the highest falls
on the East Coast.
The south and east
borders of the
site are marked by
the property lines
of the Essex and
Congdon Mills,
respectively.
The
ATP site contains some of the most
important mill
buildings of
Paterson, ones
that are
representative of
the city's
significance in
America's growth
as an industrial
power. With
remnants of
buildings dating
from the 1830s
(the Gun Mill), to
the 1930s
(additions to the
Passaic and Todd
Mills), to the
1960s (northern
portions of the
Waverly), the ATP
site also
exemplifies the
history and
decline of the
textile industry
in Paterson and
throughout the
northeastern
United States.
While there were
other areas of
Paterson in which
textile
manufacturing
occurred, the ATP
site represents a
concentration of
such industrial
activity.
The
Passaic River and
the S.U.M. raceway
system are two of
the most important
historical assets
of the ATP site.
The power of the
river and its
potential for
industry played a
significant role
in Alexander
Hamilton's
selection of
Paterson as the
location for the
Society for the
Establishment of
Useful
Manufactures in
1791. An elaborate
system of
raceways, the
first attempt with
the United States
to harness the
entire power of a
major river, was
designed to
provide waterpower
to the mills.
The
raceway system
today gives some
organizational
definition to the
ATP site; the
lower raceway
(1827-28) follows
the southern
boundary of the
site, and the
location of the
original middle
raceway west of
the Gun Mill
(1807) aids in the
demarcation of the
westernmost
boundary of the
ATP site.
Tailraces exited
many of the site's
mill complexes
into the river.
This vital
relationship to
the water defined
the development of
the ATP site –
and Paterson in
general – as a
center of industry
in early
nineteenth-century
America.
The
structures that
occupied the ATP
site represent a
range of forms
typical to such
enterprises over
more than a
century.
Industrial
buildings of the
nineteenth century
were of frame,
brick, or stone
construction, with
small windows set
into their
load-bearing
walls; in the late
nineteenth
century, the
development of an
iron, and then
later a steel,
structural framing
system, and still
later the
reinforced
concrete frame,
enabled the use of
larger windows by
freeing exterior
walls of their
structural
function. The
multistoried Gun
Mill, erected in
1836 of local
stone, is
illustrative of
early mill design.
The Waverly Mill,
on the other hand,
with its two-story
high windows on
the east façade
and multipaned
industrial sash
windows in the
rear, is
indicative of the
changes brought by
later structural
frame systems.
By the early
twentieth century,
the site, which
had in the 1840s
been populated by
only four mills
with limited
support buildings,
had grown to a
dense collection
of mills,
dyehouses, pattern
storage
structures,
machine shops,
etc. Compounding
the rich
congregation of
mill buildings
from all eras are
the distinctive
architectural
forms that
characterized
these industries,
such as the
sawtooth roof for
dyehouses, and the
brick stacks for
boilers.
The development of
the ATP site was
characterized by a
complex and
rapidly changing
occupancy/ownership
of the buildings.
From its
beginning, the
buildings
constructed at the
site have housed
numerous
enterprises, some
lasting only a few
years, some for
more extensive
periods, and
others returning
years later under
a different
incorporation.
While many of the
buildings housed a
certain type of
manufacture for
virtually the
entire period of
activity, other
structures were
renovated to
accommodate
different
industrial
pursuits.
Throughout this
expansion, mill
owners generally
adhered to the
organization found
in their lot
lines.
Known as
"Silk
City,"
Paterson (and
specifically the
ATP site at the
heart of
industrial
Paterson) was
heavily involved
in producing silk,
such production
reaching its
height in the
early twentieth
century. Within
the ATP mill
complexes, most
production, if not
fulfilling some
aspect of textile
production,
directly supported
such manufactures
through the
production of
textile machinery.
By 1794, when
water from the
falls was first
brought to the
district, the
first factory had
been erected for
the purpose of
spinning cotton
yarn. The
expansion of the
raceway system in
1807 engendered
further textile
production
(flannel, silk
ribbons, woolens,
and cotton), as
well as mills that
produced metal
goods such as
kettles, spades,
pans, and nails.
For a few years,
the Colt Gun Mill,
erected in 1836,
produced the
famous revolvers,
before that
company moved to
Hartford,
Connecticut.
A brief enterprise
at the Gun Mill
involved
steam-heating
radiator patent
and production,
and another
operation
concerned
parchment paper
machinery. Textile
machinery, such as
hemp and rope
machines, steam
engines and
boilers, and
copper rollers for
printing, was
manufactured at
the Todd and
Rafferty Machine
Company in the
second half of the
nineteenth
century.
The
height of
production on the
ATP site,
nevertheless, was
related to textile
manufacturing:
from spinning,
throwing, and
weaving to dyeing,
printing, and
finishing (wet
processing.) These
enterprises,
active during
Paterson's
development and
rapid growth,
typically were, as
the SEA Report
points out, small,
independent
operations
focusing on one
aspect of textile
production or
supporting the
process by
producing
machinery.
The financial
panics and
recessions in the
late nineteenth
century and other
major events in
Paterson's history
left their imprint
on these small
enterprises. The
flood of 1903
caused great
damage to the
physical plant of
many of the mills,
and the strikes of
1913 closed down
many of the mills,
a few of which
were still listed
as vacant on the
1915 Sanborn map.
Beginning in the
twentieth century
these small
operations were
consolidated under
the auspices of
larger
manufacturers,
such as the
Standard Silk
Dyeing Company and
the Allied Textile
Printers (renamed
the ATP
Processors, Ltd.)
The SEA Report
observes that
between 1938 and
the closing of
manufacturing
operations in
1983, the focus of
the production was
wet processing of
grey goods (woven
textiles). The
growing popularity
of synthetic
fabrics such as
nylon, acetate,
and rayon had a
great impact on
Paterson and the
production of silk
in the United
States.
The ATP site,
after its closure
in 1983, was
purchased by
Paterson
Renaisaance
Partners, which
planned to
renovate and
redevelop the
industrial
district for
commercial and
residential uses.
In June of 1983,
the first of a
dozen arson fires
ripped through the
ATP site, causing
immense damage to
the original mill
buildings. Today,
ruins of the mill
complexes remain.
In 1994, the City
of Paterson
acquired the site
through
foreclosure,
following Paterson
Renaissance
Partner's
inablility to pay
outstanding taxes.
The entire site
lies within a
floodplain. The
majority of the
site falls in Zone
A0, which
indicates an area
of 100-year
shallow flooding,
where depths range
from one to three
feet. According to
the city's Master
Plan, the site
falls within a
"Floodway
Fringe" zone.
The ATP site
offers unique and
valuable views
from the north
side of the
Passaic River, is
also visible from
several
significant public
areas within the
city, and provides
interesting views
of the river. The
views from the
site are pleasing,
as they are of the
opposite, wooded
shoreline, which
is a unique vista,
given the urban
context of the
site.
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