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Even when I lived in West Paterson in the 90s, black people were moving there who didn't want to live in Paterson because of the drugs and crime. Our neighbors in the apartment across the hall moved out of Paterson because they were adopting a baby and didn't want to raise her in Paterson. They ended up buying a house in town.
One day the man knocked on my door and told me to bring my daughter's bicycle in because he noticed some black people walking around and was afraid they would steal it. HE was black.
I also knew some white people in West Paterson, siblings from a large family but some were married and had their own families, who had come from Paterson and still had other siblings there. They spoke like stereotypical inner-city black people with the "ax" and the "birfday" but they were all white as ghosts with red hair. A couple of the brothers were recovering heroin addicts.
Paterson's an interesting place, and my ancestral home. My grandparents met in Paterson while working in the silk mills about a hundred years ago.
Mighty Queen,
Are both your grandparents Dutch?
I remember you mentioned you were Dutch in one of your posts on the forum.
I remember you mentioned you were Dutch in one of your posts on the forum.
Well, I am past 60, and all my grandparents are DEAD. (Although, a great-uncle, my maternal grandmother's brother, is still alive at 95.)
All of my grandparents were born in the USA, as were most of the great-grandparents. Three greats I know were born in Holland.
On my mother's side, the families of both grandparents came here from the Netherlands, while on my father's side, my great-great-grandparents whose English surname I bear came from Manchester, England, to Paterson, NJ, during the Civil War. They were cotton-mill workers in England but the mills were closing because the Yankee blockade was preventing cotton from getting through. There was work in the Paterson silk mills, so they crossed the pond in 1863 and took up residence and work in Paterson. My father's mother's people were Dutch, though. There's also one English line married into there somewhere that goes back to 18th century New England.
I bring up the point when people start comparing Paterson to Hoboken, Jersey City. do not compare-- HOBOKEN IS TWELVE (12) MINUTES FROM WALL STREET ! Therefore, the appeal is 100% for "millenials" & others working on/near Wall Street. Paterson, is a long commute. Furthermore, Hoboken always had a very diverse population, Italian, Irish, German, Black, some Latinos, etc.
Too much to say about Paterson, but not in the mood today, read my several years ago posts from Neleh !
Well to play devil's advocate, plenty of people commute to the city from farther areas to the north of Paterson, like Ridgewood, Glen Rock, etc.
The fact that Paterson has a train station gives it some hope IMO. It might take decades, but if cities in Hudson and Essex continue to get more expensive, Paterson might generate some interest from young professionals looking for a cheap urban environment. I think Newark has a greater shot of revitalizing in the near future though....
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