city in NE N.J., on the Passaic River: pop. 149,000
Origin:
after Wm. Paterson (1745-1806), state governor
See Paterson in American Heritage Dictionary 4
A city of northeast New Jersey at the falls of the Passaic River north of Newark. It was founded in 1791 as an industrial settlement of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, chartered by Alexander Hamilton and others to promote independent American enterprise. Population: 149,000.