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History · Hackensack

Hackensack’s post office opened in 1888, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Hackensack was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Its Register listing is the Hackensack Conservation Building. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1910.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hackensack’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hackensack began

When was Hackensack founded?

1888

The Hackensack post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 84 in 19102020 census: 294138 years
Founding year: the first Hackensack post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hackensack’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hackensack’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hackensack’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMaeser Fur Farms, Hackensack, Minn. (19…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Hackensack came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hackensack.

Read it all →

A post office called Hackensack has been in operation since 1888. The city is named after Hackensack, New Jersey.

The residents of Hackensack first described their town as the home of Paul Bunyan's sweetheart Lucette in the 1940s, when a sculpture depicting her was placed in City Park. A seventeen-foot-tall fiberglass sculpture of Lucette replaced the original in 1991.

In 2023, the Hackensack Lending Library, officially listed as the Hackensack Conservation Building, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hackensack, 1888 to 1970

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Hackensack post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1926In the archiveMaeser Fur Farms, Hackensack, Minn. (1926)
  5. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Hackensack, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
Maeser Fur Farms, Hackensack, Minn. (1926)1926Maeser Fur Farms, Hackensack, Minn. (1926)
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
City of Hackensack, Minnesota - Water Tower2018City of Hackensack, Minnesota - Water TowerLucette statue in2015Lucette statue inGreetings from Hackensack, Minnesota, Home of Paul Bunyan's Sweetheart - Large Letter Postcard2011Greetings from Hackensack, Minnesota, Home of Paul Bu…Document
On the map

Hackensack on the map, 1970 to 1996

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hackensack. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Hackensack on the 1970 USGS mapHackensack on the 1996 USGS map1970Hackensack sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hackensack.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Maeser Fur Farms, Hackensack, Minn. (1926)
Retake this viewMaeser Fur Farms, Hackensack, Minn. (1926), 1926

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hackensack’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Hackensack

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2023
Hackensack Conservation Building
Hackensack Conservation Building
Buildings
All 1 listings
Hackensack Conservation BuildingBuilding · listed 2023

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Hackensack, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 313

Between 84 and 313 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hackensack’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Birch Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHiram TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hackensack’s history

What year was Hackensack founded?

The Hackensack post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Hackensack?

One place: the Hackensack Conservation Building (listed 2023).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.