This image was shot during an especially foreboding dusk at the Passaic Falls in Paterson, NJ. I came up 5 minutes from here and have been emotionally invested in the town's history from a young age.
(From the Wikipedia entry-) "In 1778, Alexander Hamilton visited the falls and was impressed by its potential for industry. Later as the nation's first Secretary of Treasury, he selected the site of the nation's first planned industrial city."
This ominous mood this image brings to bear has emotional significance for me in reflecting on Paterson, NJ's long history of worker's struggles from the industrial revolution to the early 20th century (when "Silk City" was internationally known for the Paterson Silk Strike of 1913, which brought particular attention to the way women were treated in the silk mills & textile workers overcame differences of nationality and gender in confronting this new system's attempt to stifle their humanity.) My great great grandparents worked at the mills and my father's family (including himself as a teen) worked in factories in Paterson most of their lives.
Paterson remains a lower/working class city, where liquor and dollar stores line main street, but the original factories and the falls remain as a backdrop to its history and former power.
I love this city.
-Derik
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