Founding year: the first Hillsdale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Hillsdale’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hillsdale is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #182 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hillsdale’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 Hillsdale’s 10.8 sits above most of its state (70% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 11 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 points). 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 Hillsdale’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
Hillsdale, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hillsdale yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hillsdale is a borough in the northern portion of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 10,143, a decrease of 76 (−0.7%) from the 2010 census count of 10,219, which in turn reflected an increase of 132 (+1.3%) from the 10,087 counted in the 2000 census. The populated area today known as Hillsdale took form in the mid-to-late 19th century as land speculators, led by David P. Patterson, developed subdivisions to profit from the coming of the Hackensack and New York Railroad (later New Jersey and New York Railroad). The area was incorporated as Hillsdale Township on March 25,…
Its first post office opened in 1870. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 10,219 in 2010, 10,143 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Hillsdale in 1900
Passages that mention Hillsdale, cut from the printed page as they were published.
This a township within a township, havingthe village of Hillsdale for its central or business location. The village is desirably located on the New Jersey and New York Railroad, having its mercantile and business interests dating from the building of that road.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
within the bounds of the village of Hillsdale. This place contains one summer hotel and a number of beautiful residences built by the Hillsdale Improvement Company, of which Arthur J. Stever is president.
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
Hillsdale, 1806 to 2000
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 Hillsdale post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hillsdale rank for history?
Hillsdale is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #182 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 Hillsdale?
8 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Blauvelt-Demarest House (listed 1983, the first). 11 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Hillsdale?
22% of Hillsdale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (8), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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