170 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (PALATKA, PATERSON.) 



the colored people. The business houses, about 

 45 in number, are principally of brick. In the 

 center of the public square stands the county 

 courthouse, which cost $26,000. The new coun- 

 ty jail cost $15,000. Federal courts, district 

 and circuit, are held here, and there is a Federal 

 building that cost $60,000. The town site is 

 advantageous, having an elevation of 685 feet 

 above tide water. The surface is rolling, and it 

 is well drained. The corporation covers 1.280 

 acres, and the streets are regularly laid out and 

 graded. Brick and plank sidewalks have been 

 laid. There are 2 banks, and a building and 

 loan association, but no manufacturing estab- 

 lishments. The personal and real property is 

 valued at about $1,500,000, and the tax rate does 

 not exceed 12 mills for all purposes. About 

 9,000 bales of cotton are handled here yearly. 



Palatka, a city of Florida, the county seat of 

 Putnam County, on the west bank of St. John's 

 river, 60 miles south of Jacksonville and 30 

 miles southwest of St. Augustine. It is 18 miles 

 from the Atlantic Ocean, and about 85 from the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Four railroads afford trans- 

 portation the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key 

 West, the Florida Southern, the Jacksonville, 

 St. Augustine and Indian River, and the Geor- 

 gia Southern and Florida. There are several 

 lines of steamers on St. John's river, and in win- 

 ter two lines of steamers make the famous 

 Ocklawaha river trip, remarkable for its tortuous 

 course and picturesque beauty. These steamers 

 are exceedingly quaint in pattern, stern-wheel- 

 ers, built on the high-pressure plan ; and at 

 night flaring flambeaux of pine torches, hung 

 high in the bow, cast weird reflections upon the 

 tangled foliage of the narrow stream. Palatka 

 was founded by James Marver, and was incor- 

 porated in 1853. It has been twice destroyed 

 by fire. After the civil war the culture of 

 oranges became a new industry, and thousands 

 of boxes of the fruit are now snipped annually 

 from the county. In 1880 the population was 

 1,616, and in 1890 it had increased to 3,039. 

 The city is lighted by gas, and has a street rail- 

 way. The water supply is drawn from a spring, 

 and a standpipe holding 200,000 gallons is fed 

 by 2 pumping engines with a capacity of 

 1,250,000 gallons daily. Artesian wells have 

 been sunk, the water, which is strongly impreg- 

 nated with sulphur, being struck near the sur- 

 face. The fire department consists of 4 hose 

 companies and a hook-and-ladder company. A 

 valuable adjunct is a fire-police force. There 

 are 2 banks (1 national), 2 public schools for 

 whites and 2 for colored pupils, a Catholic 

 academy, and other private schools, several 

 churches, 2 daily and 2 weekly newspapers. 

 The wharves of the city are extensive. In addi- 

 tion to oranges, cotton and sugar are shipped. 

 Both the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West 

 and the Florida Southern Railroads have shops 

 here, and the industries include 2 sawmills and 

 2 shingle mills, the vast forests that border 

 the St. John's and Ocklawaha rivers affording 

 an abundant supply of cypress and long-leaved 

 pine. One of these mills has a daily capacity of 

 30,000 feet of lumber. There is also a factory 

 for orange boxes, as well as an ice factory and 

 wagon works. Fish are taken by Northern fish- 

 ermen in autumn, and shipped to the North. 



Paterson, a city of New Jersey, the county 

 seat of Passaic County, on Passaic river, 16 miles 

 from New York city, among the foothills of the 

 Ramapo range. The New York, Susquehanna 

 and Western, the New York. Lake Erie and 

 Western, and the Delaware, Lackawanna and 

 Western Railroads pass through the city, and it 

 is also connected with Delaware river by the 

 Morris Canal. Paterson was founded in 1791 by 

 an incorporated company with the title of the 

 Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures 

 (commonly called the S. U. M.), the existence of 

 which was largely due to the influence of Alex- 

 ander Hamilton, who was convinced that the 

 United States would never be really free and 

 independent of Great Britain until they could 

 manufacture goods enough for their own con- 

 sumption. One hundred thousand dollars was 

 subscribed for the company, which was the 

 largest of its kind in the country. The location 

 at Passaio Falls was chosen as affording the 

 finest water power anywhere within convenient 

 reach of New York or Philadelphia, and the 

 projected town was named from William Pater- 

 son, Governor of the State. Before the immense 

 water power developed by the perpendicular 

 fall of 50 feet made by the river here was so 

 utilized the picturesque beauty of the spot at- 

 tracted visitors. After its plunge the river flows 

 between vertical cliffs until it sinks 20 feet 

 farther to the level of the plain. The site of 

 Paterson (700 acres), together with the river bed 

 above and below the falls, was purchased by the 

 S. U. M., at a cost of $8,230, and Major L'Enfant, 

 who laid out the national capital, was appointed 

 (succeeding Nehemiah Hubbard) to superintend 

 and lay out the town, but owing to his extrava- 

 gant notions he in turn was superseded by 

 Peter Colt. In 1824 the population was 4,787, 

 and in the following year 24,000 spindles were 

 in operation in the cotton mills. In 1860, ten 

 years after its incorporation, the inhabitants 

 numbered 20,478: in 1870, 33,579; in 1880, 51,- 

 031;. and in 1890, 78,347, an increase of 53-53 

 per cent, in the last decade. In 1893 the popu- 

 lation is claimed to be 90,000. Paterson is the 

 third city in size in the State. Its altitude is 

 from 81 to 193 feet above sea level. From 

 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 gallons of water are re- 

 quired to supply the city every day, and double 

 that quantity in winter. The capacity of the 

 water works, which are owned by a company, is 

 58,000,000 gallons, in 4 reservoirs, and a pump- 

 ing capacity of 26,000,000 gallons a day, by 

 steam and water power. At the end of 1892 

 there were 74 miles of mains, and there are 913 

 fire hydrants. The paid fire department main- 

 tains a force of 154 men. Its apparatus includes 

 9 steam engines, and 1 in reserve. Both gas 

 and electricity are used for lighting. There are 

 2 large hospitals, 31 public halls, and 2 public 

 parks, one containing 66| acres, which cost $75,- 

 000, and the other, 30 acres, which cost $45,000. 

 In 1891 several lots on Vreeland Avenue were 

 also given to the city for parks. The public 

 library contains 16,000 volumes. In 1866 the 

 first street railway was built. In 1891 electricity 

 as a motor power was introduced, and the pres- 

 ent plant represents an outlay of nearly $2,000,- 

 000. There are 35 miles of track in operation. 

 The first public school in Paterson dates from 



