Nation's Newest National Historic Park In NJ

PATERSON, N.J. (AP) - A majestic 77-foot waterfall in the heart of a working-class New Jersey city that inspired generations of newcomers to America, fueled the Industrial Revolution and was featured in everything from a William Carlos Williams poem to an episode of "The Sopranos," became the nation's newest national park Monday.

The Great Falls in downtown Paterson was given the national park designation in a ceremony attended by New Jersey officials, local schoolchildren, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the head of the National Park Service.

Paterson, the third-largest city in New Jersey, was once a booming beacon of industry and later fell on hard times. The waterfall, framed Monday by a ring of blazing foliage, is second only to Niagara Falls in water volume east of the Mississippi River. More than 2 billion gallons of water a day pass over its summit to the swirling Passaic River below.

Considered the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, the Great Falls once generated power that ran mills producing silk _ Paterson is still known as `Silk City' _ locomotives, aircraft engines and guns.

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