The Nathan Barnert House was the home of one of the most important civic leaders, businessmen, and philanthropists in the history of Paterson, New Jersey. Although the residence itself is no longer standing, its story remains an important part of Paterson’s history because of its connection to Nathan Barnert and, later, to the beginnings of the Paterson Museum.
Nathan Barnert Comes to Paterson
Nathan Barnert was born on September 20, 1838, in Posen, Prussia, now Poznań, Poland. His family immigrated to the United States in the late 1840s. Barnert learned the tailoring trade from his father and later traveled to California during the Gold Rush era.
After returning east, Barnert established himself in the clothing business. During the Civil War, he obtained substantial contracts to supply clothing to the Union Army. The success of his business provided him with the capital that he later invested in Paterson real estate and industry.
Barnert became increasingly involved in Paterson’s civic affairs. He was elected an alderman from the Sixth Ward and became the first Jewish person elected to public office in Paterson. His investigation of municipal finances in the 1870s exposed irregularities and resulted in the prosecution of several city officials.
He subsequently served as mayor of Paterson from 1883–1886 and again from 1889–1890.
The Barnert Home
As Barnert’s fortune grew, he established a substantial residence on Summer Street in Paterson, near the Danforth Library. The house and its grounds represented the prosperity that Barnert had achieved through business, real estate, and industrial development.
The property included a carriage house, an important feature of a large nineteenth-century urban residence. The carriage house would ultimately have an unexpected connection with Paterson’s cultural history.
Barnert’s Summer Street property was located in an area that became increasingly associated with Paterson’s educational and cultural institutions. His home therefore stood not only as a private residence but also within an important civic neighborhood.
Businessman and Industrial Developer
Barnert was more than a wealthy resident. He was an important participant in Paterson’s industrial expansion.
He invested heavily in real estate and became associated with the development of tenant mills, buildings constructed specifically to be rented to manufacturers. His Barnert Mill, constructed in the early 1880s near Railroad Avenue, Grand Street, and Dale Avenue, provided space for silk manufacturers and other industrial businesses. The New Jersey Historic Preservation Office describes the mill as one of the city’s important surviving examples of late-nineteenth-century industrial architecture.
This type of development was particularly important to Paterson because manufacturers could rent space rather than finance the construction of their own factories. The arrangement helped accommodate the city’s rapidly expanding silk industry.
A Life of Public Service and Philanthropy
Barnert’s wealth also allowed him and his wife, Miriam Barnert, to become major philanthropists.
Among the causes associated with Barnert were Jewish education, healthcare, religious institutions, and assistance for the poor, elderly, and orphaned. He donated land and money for the Barnert Memorial Temple, supported the Miriam Barnert Hebrew Free School, and was a major benefactor of Barnert Hospital, which opened in 1914.
Barnert’s philanthropy extended beyond the Jewish community. His charitable activities made him one of Paterson’s best-known benefactors.
His standing in the community was reflected by the decision to erect a bronze statue of Barnert in front of Paterson City Hall in 1923, four years before his death.
The Barnert Carriage House and the Paterson Museum
One of the most interesting chapters in the history of the Barnert property began after Barnert’s lifetime.
The Paterson Museum was organized in 1925 by the Board of Trustees of the Paterson Free Public Library. Its original exhibits were displayed in the assembly room of the Danforth Library. As the collection grew, a larger location was needed.
In 1927, the museum moved into the former carriage house of Nathan Barnert, located on Summer Street next to the Danforth Library. The building was remodeled for museum purposes, and the museum opened there in January 1927.
For more than five decades, the former Barnert carriage house served as the home of the Paterson Museum. During this period, the museum’s collections expanded considerably, encompassing local history, natural history, archaeology, minerals, and technological objects.
The Barnert property thus acquired a second identity: what had originally been part of the private estate of one of Paterson’s most prominent citizens became a public institution dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the city.
The Museum Moves
By the late twentieth century, the museum’s collections had outgrown the Summer Street building.
In 1982, the Paterson Museum moved to the restored Thomas Rogers Locomotive and Machine Shop at 2 Market Street, within the Great Falls Historic District. The former Rogers building provided substantially more space and connected the museum directly with Paterson’s industrial heritage.
The museum remains there today.
The End of the Barnert House
The original Nathan Barnert residence on Summer Street no longer survives. The carriage house, however, occupies an important place in the history of Paterson because of its long service as the home of the Paterson Museum.
This history makes the Barnert property particularly significant. It links together three major themes in Paterson’s past:
- The rise of successful Jewish immigrants in nineteenth-century Paterson
- The growth of Paterson’s industrial and silk economy
- The development of public institutions dedicated to preserving the city’s history
Nathan Barnert’s Lasting Legacy
Nathan Barnert died in Paterson on December 23, 1927, shortly after the Paterson Museum had begun operating in his former carriage house. His life had encompassed some of the most important changes in Paterson’s history—from a rapidly industrializing nineteenth-century city to a major center of silk manufacturing and a community increasingly concerned with preserving its heritage.
Today, Barnert’s name survives throughout Paterson, including the Nathan Barnert Residence on Keen Street, as well as the statue outside City Hall and numerous historical references to his philanthropic work.
The story of the Nathan Barnert House is therefore more than the history of a single residence. It is part of the larger story of Nathan Barnert’s transformation from an immigrant tailor into a successful businessman, mayor, industrial developer, and philanthropist—and of the way his private property eventually became associated with the preservation of Paterson’s public history.