Most of Flanders was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1911 on and old-book passages.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Flanders yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Flanders is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mount Olive Township, in southwestern Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,832. Flanders is served by the U.S. Postal Service as ZIP Code 07836.
Its first post office opened in 1822.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Flanders, 1882–1914
Passages that mention Flanders, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Morris County, New Jersey1914 · page 191Read the page →
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A postoffice was established in Flanders, July 27, 1822, Henry Halsey the first postmaster. The first schoolhouse was built of logs, prior to 1800, a deed for the second school lot being given August 10, 1805, the house now occupying the site being the third. Flanders now has a population of 510, according to the census of 1910, and is prettily located in a beautiful valley. Mount Olive, in the center of the township, has two churches and a schoolhouse, but has only been a postoffice since 1872, R. H. Stephens being the first appointee. The present population is 100. Budd Lake was made
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History of Morris County, New Jersey1882 · page 255Read the page →
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Flanders in its beautiful valley is the largest settlement in the township. About fifty houses lie within a mile of the churches. The first school-house was of logs, and was built in the last century. It was located where the store of D. A. Nicholas now stands. The deed of the present school-house lot was given August loth 1805, the buyers paying four dollars for one-fourth of an acre. It is near the High Bridge Railroad. The house now in
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A history of Morris County, New Jersey1914 · page 193Read the page →
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In 1857 a new church was erected and in 1858 a parsonage was secured, and later Draketown was joined with the Flanders church. In 1805 the name of the circuit was changed to “Asbury,” but in 1842 the name Flanders
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History of Morris County, New Jersey1882 · page 259Read the page →
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Samuel White of Flanders taught more than forty years, and, excepting four years, his teaching was in Roxbury and Mount Olive. His last service was in the Pleasant Hill district, near Flanders. Sickness attacked him while in school, and he died after a brief illness, in March 1880. There are school-houses at Mount Olive, Draketown, Flanders, South Stanhope, Cross Roads and Bartleyville. The stone school-house at Bartleyville was
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Flanders, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
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 the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people 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.
1911
1911
1911