A black steam locomotive waits outside a brick factory in Paterson, looking less like a museum piece and more like it might rumble back to work at any moment. Step indoors and the surprises get bigger.
There are silk looms crowded with wooden spools, gleaming Colt revolvers, powerful aircraft engines and even a full-scale replica of an early submarine. This is the Paterson Museum, where the city’s manufacturing history has been gathered into one wonderfully overwhelming collection.
The setting is part of the experience, too. Since 1982, the museum has occupied the former erecting shop of Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works, only a short walk from the Great Falls that powered Paterson’s rise…