CITY COLLECTION: P IS FOR PATERSON

P IS FOR PATERSON. This City has been on my forgotten list for a couple of decades. I don't have any real reason to put this place out mind. Maybe it's just because it took me over 30 years to get a badge to put in my New Jersey Cities Collection that I put it on a back burner.

Things change and I finally got a beauty from this City. Paterson is a great addition, in fact it is a Major City. I have the top twenty pretty well covered.

Paterson should be well know historically. Alexander Hamilton helped develop the community as a planned industrial location a couple of hundred years ago. The power of the Passaic Falls was harvested here; Mills were established; and eventually Paterson, known as the Silk City, became a major player nationally as well as internationally.

I had to look up the information about Hamilton, but I did remember the Falls all by myself. I have actually seen them, and the "first" submarine was developed here by John Holland. Why this location would be selected to build and test a "sub" is a mystery.

It is also a mystery, with all my friends in Passaic County, why it took me decades to get a "City" badge from this community. I certainly tried hard.

As luck would have it this hole in my collection was finally plugged. I got the above beauty at the collectors show in Orlando. It definitely has to be real, because Florida is where New Jersey Cops' retire. They bring their badges and memories to Ft. Lauderdale , Miami, Naples and so on.

This one is stamped with the number 141 on a silver tone finish, while "Paterson Police" is reverse stamped from the back. In the center is the N.J. State Seal. There is a pin and a "C" clasp in working order on the rear.

I am really glad to see this badge make it to my New Jersey City Collection. Very glad to have it, but never thought I'd find it in Orlando, Fl.