The John Ryle House, located today at 9 Mill Street in Paterson, New Jersey, is one of the city’s important surviving reminders of the early development of Paterson’s silk industry. Built in the early 1830s, the house is associated with John Ryle, the English-born industrialist who became one of the central figures in transforming Paterson into America’s leading silk-manufacturing center. The house forms part of the historic Daniel Thompson and John Ryle Houses, which were listed together on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places in 1981.
Early History
The Ryle House was constructed about 1830, during the formative years of Paterson’s industrial development. It is a 2½-story Federal-style frame dwelling, originally constructed as a residential building in the vicinity of the city’s developing mills along the Passaic River. Its front elevation was later covered with a brick veneer, probably by the late nineteenth century.
The house originally stood farther north on Mill Street, at what was then 11 Mill Street. It was located in a neighborhood that during the middle decades of the nineteenth century was home to many of Paterson’s manufacturers, merchants, and other prosperous residents. The National Register documentation describes the neighborhood as an upper-middle-class enclave, with nearby Boudinot Street—today Van Houten Street—known in the nineteenth century as “Quality Row.”
John Ryle Comes to Paterson
John Ryle was born in 1817 in Bollington, Cheshire, England, near Macclesfield, a major center of Britain’s silk industry. He came to the United States with considerable knowledge of silk manufacturing and became involved in Paterson’s developing textile industry.
The beginnings of Paterson’s silk industry can be traced to the late 1830s. In 1839, Christopher Colt experimented with silk manufacturing in the former gun-manufacturing complex below the Great Falls. George W. Murray subsequently acquired the operation, with Ryle serving as superintendent. By the early 1840s, Ryle was playing an increasingly important role in the enterprise.
Ryle and Murray became partners, and Ryle eventually took control of the operation. He expanded silk manufacturing in the area around the old Colt Gun Mill and developed additional mill buildings. His enterprises helped establish the industrial foundation upon which Paterson’s later reputation as the “Silk City” was built.
Ryle’s Years in the House
John Ryle occupied the Mill Street house from approximately 1849 until 1859. During this decade, he was becoming one of Paterson’s most prominent industrialists. The 1859 Paterson city directory lists Ryle as a silk manufacturer, with his business interests associated with the Gun Mill and Murray Mill.
The house therefore dates from an especially important period in Paterson history. From this residence, Ryle was closely connected with the rapidly expanding silk industry that was transforming the city’s economy and physical landscape.
Ryle’s industrial career included the development and rebuilding of silk mills and the organization of the firm that became John Ryle & Sons. His enterprises ultimately became associated with the Pioneer Silk Company.
The “Father of the Silk Industry”
Ryle became widely associated with the rise of silk manufacturing in Paterson. Historical accounts credit him with helping establish silk manufacturing on a substantial commercial basis in the city. His influence extended beyond his own factories: workers trained in Ryle’s operations went on to establish or manage other silk businesses.
The Passaic County Historical Society describes Ryle’s operation at the old Gun Mill as an important training ground for workers who later became significant figures in Paterson’s silk industry.
Ryle was also involved in promoting the American silk industry nationally. One notable achievement associated with him was the production of silk goods for the 1852 New York Crystal Palace exhibition, where Paterson’s silk industry received national attention.
A Changing Neighborhood
The character of Mill Street changed considerably during the second half of the nineteenth century.
When Ryle lived there, the neighborhood was associated with prosperous industrialists and businesspeople. As Paterson’s industrial economy expanded, however, the area increasingly became a working-class neighborhood. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many immigrant families lived in the vicinity of the mills.
The history of the Ryle House reflects that transition. After Ryle’s ownership, the property passed through several owners. In 1913, Giovanni and Jennie Iannascoli acquired the property. In 1921, it was purchased by Michele Napoletano, a musician. It was subsequently owned by Sofia DiMarcantonio, whose husband operated a tailoring business on the third floor. The DiMarcantonio heirs retained the property until 1970.
Architectural Features
The John Ryle House is approximately 20 feet wide by 52 feet deep. Its design is characteristic of the modest Federal-period houses constructed in early nineteenth-century Paterson.
Among its notable features are:
- Two-and-a-half-story construction
- Raised basement
- Side-hall interior arrangement
- Federal-style proportions
- Dormer windows added around the middle of the nineteenth century
- Brick veneer on the principal façade
- Original clapboard construction beneath later alterations
- Evidence of the original central chimney
- A later side-wall chimney added about 1870
The combination of the house’s early Federal design and later alterations illustrates how an early Paterson residence evolved as the city changed around it.
Saved from Demolition
By the twentieth century, the Ryle House had fallen into poor condition. By 1969, both the Ryle and Thompson houses were vacant, and the buildings faced the possibility of demolition.
A proposed realignment of Ellison Street threatened the two historic houses. Rather than allowing them to be destroyed, preservationists arranged for the buildings to be moved in November 1979 to their present location at 8 and 9 Mill Street.
This move was an important preservation achievement because it saved two rare surviving examples of early nineteenth-century residential architecture in the Great Falls industrial neighborhood.
Historic Designation
The Daniel Thompson and John Ryle Houses were placed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on June 17, 1981, and on the National Register of Historic Places on July 30, 1981. They are recognized as significant both architecturally and for their association with the early industrial development of Paterson.
The City of Paterson also recognizes the buildings as historic landmarks, listing the Daniel Thompson and John Ryle Houses at 8 and 9 Mill Street, with the original construction date given as approximately 1830.
John Ryle’s Legacy
John Ryle’s importance to Paterson extended well beyond his house and factories. He became active in civic affairs and served as Mayor of Paterson from 1869 to 1870. His career linked the city’s early manufacturing period with its emergence as a nationally important silk center.
Ryle also participated in civic and charitable activities. Among the organizations he supported was the Old Ladies’ Home of Passaic County, founded in 1875; contemporary historical accounts list him among its prominent founders and supporters.
John Ryle died in England in 1887 while visiting his native Cheshire. His remains were returned to Paterson and buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery, linking his final resting place to the city whose industrial development had defined much of his American career.
Significance to Paterson History
The John Ryle House is significant not because it is an enormous mansion or an elaborate Victorian residence, but because it preserves a direct connection to the early industrial era of Paterson.
Standing only a short distance from the mills and raceways that powered the city’s industries, the house represents a period when factory owners and industrial workers lived close to the sources of waterpower that drove Paterson’s manufacturing economy.
Most importantly, the house provides a tangible connection to John Ryle and the birth of Paterson’s silk industry. The small Federal-style dwelling at 9 Mill Street helps tell the larger story of how Paterson evolved from Alexander Hamilton’s planned manufacturing city into America’s “Silk City.”
Today, the John Ryle House and the adjoining Daniel Thompson House remain important components of Paterson’s historic industrial landscape and are part of the city’s broader story of invention, manufacturing, immigration, architecture, and industrial enterprise.