Fair Lawn’s historic district, a National Historic Landmark, takes in 349 buildings
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #144 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Radburn, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 349 buildings. Below: maps from 1888 on and the census since 1900.
The Fair Lawn post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Warren Point (1894), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 756 in 19002020 census: 34,927144 years
How historic is Fair Lawn?
A−
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Fair Lawn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Fair Lawn’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fair Lawn is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #144 of 468 in New Jersey. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fair Lawn’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 Fair Lawn’s 100.0 sits above most of its state (87% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 356 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Fair Lawn’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fair Lawn. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Paterson sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fair Lawn.
The story so far
Fair Lawn, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fair Lawn yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fair Lawn is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a bedroom suburb located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 34,927, an increase of 2,470 (+7.6%) from the 2010 census count of 32,457, which in turn reflected an increase of 820 (+2.6%) from the 31,637 counted in the 2000 census. Fair Lawn was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 6, 1924, as "Fairlawn", from portions of Saddle River Township. The name was taken from Fairlawn, David Acker's estate home, that was built in 1865 and later became the Fair Lawn Municipal Building. In 1933, the official spell…
Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 32,457 to 34,927 (+8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Fair Lawn, 1882 to 2005
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Fair Lawn post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fair Lawn rank for history?
Fair Lawn is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #144 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 Fair Lawn?
8 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Peter Garretson House (listed 1974, the first), and 1 historic district, the Radburn, with 349 contributing buildings. 356 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Fair Lawn?
19% of Fair Lawn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
2015
2014
2013
2008
2007