Salvage Archaeology in Paterson, NJ, 1973-75 Edward S

Northeast Historical Archaeology Volume 4 1974 Symposium on Industrial Archaeology, Article 2 Paterson, N.J. 1975 Salvage Archaeology in Paterson, NJ, 1973-75 Edward S. Rutsch Follow this and additional works at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Rutsch, Edward S. (1975) "Salvage Archaeology in Paterson, NJ, 1973-75," Northeast Historical Archaeology: Vol. 4 4, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol4/iss1/2 Available at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol4/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in Northeast Historical Archaeology by an authorized editor of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. Salvage lrcbeologr in Paterson, I.J., 1873-75 Edward S. Butsch INTRODUCTION: DOUBLE PIONEERS at the l owest social level, and then also being given a job as a camel driver. In the early 1970's, I telephoned anthro Whether they were farmers or craftsmen pologist Dr. Gene Weltfish to discuss the in their homelands, the immigrants' new uniqueness of the ethnic makeup of Pater life in industrial Paterson was tot ally son. We speculated on the smaller percen different in these two ways-- hence, they tage of oldtimer s in Paterson in compari were double pioneers. son with other i ndustrial urban centers Dr. Weltfish furthermore pointed out in the Northeast. We discussed the pat that a substantial part of Paterson' s mo tern of Paterson residents moving to the dern population consists in t wo new groups nearby suburban areas of Wayne and Ridge of immigrants, both mostly rural peasants: wood, and how, if we were to appeal to the Caribbean people, largely from Puerto people with a Paterson heritage to pre Rico; and the southern American Negro . serve the Historic Industrial Distr ict, The latter group has a unique migration we would have to contact a much wider story, whi~h although it occurred within area than the city itself. our country is in most ways profoundly a We also noted the apparent lack of in double pioneering experience. In sheer terest in the Historic Industrial District numbers it may be the greatest transhu on the part of Paterson's new residents, mance in man's history, and it is as yet mainly from the Caribbean and southern widely unrecognized. United States. After wondering how to The recognition of Pater son' s heritage day' s population could ever appreciate for those whose ancestry is European is the industrial buildings that are the part of the process we celebrate in the l egacy of the European migration of an study of industrial archeology. If our earlier time, we ended our conversation. goal is the r ecognition and understanding About two hours later, Dr . Weltfish of the her oic accomplishments of double called and explained an insight inspired pioneering in the past, why should we by our talk. I have called this insight then not study the same process as it the double pioneer concept. happens around us today? The Paterson immigrant industrial work At a recent West Paterson Kiwanis er has been a double pioneer in that he meeting where my lecture on the double (l) has migrated from one culture to an pioneers had engendered a discussion other, and (2) most often has left a rural among men of Irish and Italian descent peasant life for an urban industrial one. concerning family traditions of discrimi The balance of Pater son's working popula nati on because of nationality , we all tion has always been made up of immigrants agreed that one could see the counterpart and their children. An immigrant's exper of such discrimination and exploitation iences consisted mainly in learning a new among Paterson' s immigrant worker s today. culture and spending t he rest of his life Hopefully, industrial archeologists will as "the for eigner." Although he tried not, in their gui se as historic preserva with some success to establish a social tionists, lend further we ight to the ex life that approximated that of his home ploiters in some vain attempt to rid the land, he accepted the fact that only his city of workers and create an elitist children would be natives in the New World . Georgetown-on-the-Passaic. Industrial 1breover, many immigrant groups were also archeologists must also remember that pioneering into the life of the urban in artifacts we ar e studying in Paterson- dustrial environment from rural peasant be they standing buildings, remnants of cultures. An analogy might be a 1975 De machinery, or ar cheological remains--are troit autoworker emigrating to, say, Iraq, the products of a culture that was in the 1 2 throes of two unique and seldem seen avoid adverse impact to the historic en phenomena. vironment . Accordingly, we counseled the The double experience in social and local preservation group--Great Falls technological change meant a radical Development, Inc. (G.F.D.)--to request change for those who participated. The D.O.T. support for an archeological re profound experience, the ramifications of connaissance survey of the threatened which we have not yet adjusted to, con area. The D.O.T. refused. When this im tinues t oday. Even those whose ancestors portant survey phase is circumvented, as arrived early are still orienting them it was in Paterson, a major step of selves t o the changes brought about by sound environmental assessment has been the Industrial Revolution. forfeited. As we report on aspects of this revo As the drain construction schedule lution that specifically deal with the tightened, G.F.D. requested the D.O.T. to evolution of industries, technologies, support a salvage archeology project. and industrial structures, let us remem Whereas a survey evaluates the historic ber that what makes these studies worth resource so that information is available anyone's notice is that they are symbols in the design and planning stages, sal of a revolution of the human estate. Can vage work involves rescuing historical an understanding of the mechanics of this data from the site of the coming intru social process then and now help us com sion. Salvage archeology without a pre prehend and adjust to the realities of liminary survey, and in the face of in the future? flexible construction timetables and plans, can have devastating effects on BACKGROUND timing, design, and construction proce dures, which can be read as additional To handle the storm runoff from Interstate costs to the taxpayers. This was true Route 80 and N.J. Route 20, the Federal in Paterson. and State Departments of Transportation During the spring and early summer of (D.O.T. ' s) designed a 66-in. storm sewer 1973, a contract for this salvage wor k line to be placed in a straight-line open was negotiated between the Federal and cut from these highways to the Passaic State D.O.T. ' s and G.F.D., which by then River--specifically the pool below the had been accepted as the Salvage Author Passaic Falls. In the original plans, ity. This recognition is important be the sewer would have ripped indiscrimi cause Great Falls Development, Inc. was nately through the heart of Paterson's thereby acknowledged by State and Federal Historic Industrial District--through governments to be a nonprofit educational both the middle and lower raceways of the insti tution. Arthur Rosen, G.F.D. pres three-tiered historic raceway system as ident, became chairman of the Archeology well as the sites of several historic lo Committee. comotive industries (see Figs. 1-1, 1- 2). A significant aspect of the contract In preparation for the construction, is the fact that it provided for an the New Jersey Department of Transporta archeologist- observer, who conducted sal tion (N.J.D.O.T.) had purchased rights vage operations on the entire highway of-way and had demolished two structures within the Historic District: a one-story area, literally in front of the bulldozer. 20th-century warehouse adjacent to the As far as we know, this position was Rogers Locomotive and Machine Company without precedent anywhere in the United erecting shop; and the former Grant Loco States. motive Company 19th-century erecting shop on Market Street. Also razed were blocks FIELD WOR K 1973 of workers ' housing in the "Dublin" sec Salvage archeology began July 5, 1973 with tion of Paterson, just south of and ad the middle r aceway. Our basic task was joining the Historic District; this ac to draw a profile of the middle r aceway count does not deal with any part of the as it exi sts t oday and then to excavate greater historic area outside the present the area, seeking clues to its original District boundaries (for such information, constructi on and subsequent changes. Un see Articles 4 and 5). der the canal berm, we found the original Ideally, the law provides that when a retaining wall of the Society for Esta project such as this threatens a recog blishing Usefull Manufactures (abbrevi nized historic resource, there should ated S.U.M., this private corporation was first be conducted a survey to determine set up by Alexander Hamilton in 1791 to what, indeed, is in the path of the pro establish an industrial city in America). posed intrusion so that construction We observed that coal ash and metal resi plans can be adjusted to mitigate or dues from the locomotive shops had been Figure 1-1. Map of Paterson's S.U.M./Great Falls National Historic District, including the 3 area threatened by the N.J.

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