Skift Take
It will be extremely tough for Paterson, the Silk City, to weave its tourism vision into a reality. But, It has so much to offer, including the history of the Negro Leagues, its immigrant and working-class past, the legacy of the Beat Generation's Alan Ginsberg (not mentioned in the article), a Bob Dylan song, and the splendors of the Great Falls.
Mention America's historic landmarks and most people will envision battlefields, statues or beautiful scenery, not a crumbling, graffiti-covered shell of a ball field surrounded by abandoned cars, broken glass and piles of garbage.
The years of neglect can't erase what Hinchliffe Stadium once was, a hub of activity that in its heyday was filled to capacity for Negro League baseball games featuring future Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Larry Doby and Monte Irvin and teams like the New York Black Yankees, the New York Cubans and the Newark Eagles.
The once-grand Art Deco stadium earned designation last month as a national landmark — less than two years after the nearby Great Falls, a powerful 77-foot waterfall that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution, became a national park.
The twin successes have stirred pride in this struggling working-class city beset by decades of crime and financial difficulties. Now, those who fought to gain recognition for the two sites face new challenges in trying to turn them into major attractions and an economic boost for Paterson, whose textile mills in the late 19th and early 20th centuries earned it the name Silk City.
The National Park Service is working to acquire land around the waterfall from the city and other owners and to develop a plan to make the park more visitor friendly,
