{"id":3876,"date":"2026-09-20T18:45:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T22:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/?page_id=3876"},"modified":"2026-09-20T18:45:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T22:45:43","slug":"pierre-lenfants-raceway-plan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/pierre-lenfants-raceway-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Pierre L\u2019Enfant\u2019s Raceway Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (S.U.M.)<\/strong> selected the Great Falls of the Passaic River as the site of its proposed manufacturing community in 1792, one of its greatest challenges was figuring out how to transform the Falls’ natural energy into a dependable source of mechanical power.<\/p>\n

The man chosen to develop the plan was Pierre Charles L’Enfant<\/strong>, the French-born engineer and designer who had already gained recognition for his work on the plan of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

L’Enfant’s work at Paterson represented one of the earliest attempts in the United States to deliberately design an industrial community around a controlled waterpower system.<\/p>\n

An Industrial Plan for the Great Falls<\/h2>\n

L’Enfant understood that simply building factories beside the Great Falls would not make the best use of the river.<\/p>\n

The enormous energy of the Falls could be captured more effectively by diverting water above the Falls and controlling its descent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

His basic concept was to construct a dam or diversion structure upstream, allowing water to enter an artificial channel. The channel would carry the water toward the proposed manufacturing district.<\/p>\n

The water could then be released through controlled drops to operate machinery.<\/p>\n

In principle:<\/p>\n

Passaic River<\/strong>
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Dam \/ Diversion<\/strong>
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Raceway<\/strong>
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Waterwheel<\/strong>
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Factory Machinery<\/strong>
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Tailrace<\/strong>
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Passaic River<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was the fundamental idea that became the Paterson raceway system.<\/p>\n

The Importance of Elevation<\/h2>\n

L’Enfant’s plan took advantage of the natural elevation surrounding the Great Falls.<\/p>\n

Instead of using the water only once, the system could eventually make use of the difference in elevation between different parts of the industrial district.<\/p>\n

Water could enter the system at a high level, pass through a factory’s waterwheel, and then continue toward factories at lower elevations.<\/p>\n

This principle eventually produced Paterson’s Upper, Middle and Lower Raceways<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The raceways became an interconnected system rather than simply individual mill canals.<\/p>\n

Designing an Industrial Community<\/h2>\n

L’Enfant’s assignment was broader than designing a canal.<\/p>\n

The S.U.M. wanted to create an entire manufacturing community.<\/p>\n

The raceway system therefore had to work together with:<\/p>\n