Founding year: the first Demarest post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1903.
History grade
What drives Demarest’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Demarest is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #243 of 468 in New Jersey. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Demarest’s overall grade.
New Jersey towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New Jersey town has 3.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Demarest’s 16.3 sits above most of its state (73% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1903.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Demarest’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The story so far
Demarest, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Demarest yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Demarest is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,981, an increase of 100 (+2.0%) from the 2010 census count of 4,881, which in turn reflected an increase of 36 (+0.7%) from the 4,845 counted in the 2000 census. Located in the northeastern corner of New Jersey and its Gateway Region, Demarest is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Demarest was formed by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1903, from portions of Harrington Township and Palisades Township. The borough was named for the Demarest family and for the Demarest train station, which had in turn been named for Ralph S. Dem…
Its first post office opened in 1871. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,881 to 4,981 (+2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Demarest in 1900
Passages that mention Demarest, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 688Read the page →
Read the text
Demarest, N. J. was named in honor of this branch of the family. GEORGE DAYTON. George Dayton, for many years Justice of the Peace, is a greatgrandson of Jonathan Dayton, one of the incorporators of the borough
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 65Read the page →
Read the text
Bergen County, page 77. That letter adds some details not giyen in the preceding account and is therefore transcribed : ''This day about one hundred of the enemy came by the way of the New Dock, attacked the place, and carried off Cornelius Tallman, Samuel Demarest, Jacob Cole and George Buskirk ; killed Cornelius Demarest ; wounded Henderick Demarest, Jeremiah Westeryelt, Dow Tallman, etc. They burnt the houses of Cornelius Demarest, Matthias Bogert and Cornelius Huyler, Samuel Demarest's house and barn, John Banta's house and barn,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Demarest, 1871 to 1933
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Demarest post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1903.
How does Demarest rank for history?
Demarest is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #243 of 468 in New Jersey. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Demarest?
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Bogert House (listed 1983, the first), and 1 structure. 8 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Demarest?
15% of Demarest’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1967.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1933
2024
2015
2015
2015
2015
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2004