Paterson has received some new funding to help expand a beloved national landmark – the Paterson Great Falls.

“It was just announced that the city has secured funding to develop the vista, which is the name for an area of high ground just up the river about 200 yards,” says Paterson Great Falls Superintendent Darren Boch.

The vista will be a new park area that consists of 8.5 acres of land, which was originally marked for condominium development. The state awarded the city $1 million to create the park out of the now-vacant lot that sits next to the historic Hinchliffe Stadium. But Boch says that this won’t be the only expansion project.

“We're under the design stage for a new $20 million visitor that center that will be sited here in Overlook Park, just above us in the parking lot. We have a new $5 million park called the Quarry Lawn, which is going to be right behind me in this old site of ruins here,” he says.

About 250,000 people come to Paterson each year to see the Great Falls. State lawmakers and the National Park Service say that they hope to make the expansion central to a Paterson revival.

“With a new visitor center, with exhibits that tell the wonderful rich story of America's first planned industrial city, we think we're not only going to grow our visitation, but enliven the experience when you come here to Paterson's Great Falls,” says Boch.

Work on the projects has already begun and will last throughout 2020.