History · Little Falls Township

Little Falls Township’s post office opened in 1829, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #168 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Reynier Speer House. Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1870.

1829first post office

1on the National Register

22%homes built before 1940

15old photos & papers

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Little Falls Township’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Little Falls Township began

When was Little Falls Township founded?

1829

The Little Falls Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1868. Two smaller post offices, Singac (1874) and Great Notch (1914), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,282 in 18702020 census: 13,360197 years

How historic is Little Falls Township?

B⁺

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Little Falls Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1868.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Little Falls Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Little Falls Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #168 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Little Falls Township’s overall grade.

Founding era1829, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194022.0% of homes (±4.8) · typical NJ town 14.7% · U.S. 8.4%B⁺National Register1 listing, 0.7 per 10,000 residents · typical NJ town 3.7 · U.S. 2.4C⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 72%

NewerOlder

New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 64%

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 Little Falls Township’s 0.7 sits below most of its state (29% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±4.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1868.

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 Little Falls Township’s past

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

On the map since 18883 editions of the USGS map, 1888 to 1900. Watch Little Falls Township change.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Little Falls Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos15 old photos, postcards and papers, 1910–1945.Deep rootsA post office since 1829: 197 years of Little Falls Township.

★ What stands out · On the map

Little Falls Township on the map, 1888 to 1900

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

Little Falls Township on the 1888 USGS map

Little Falls Township on the 1892 USGS map

Little Falls Township on the 1900 USGS map

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 Little Falls Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Little Falls

1829–today

Singac

1874–1937

Great Notch

1914–1954

18201920today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Great NotchLittle FallsSingacThe Village at Little Falls

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

By decade

Little Falls Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s13 items

50153.BA#001--Crossing--Squirrel Woods Road--Little Falls Township, NJ [1910.07.09]

191050153.BA#001--Crossing--Squirrel Woods Road--Little F…

1917C4169-C4180--Little Falls, NJ [1917.08.02]

1920s–1940s2 items

1924Freudenbergs in Little Falls, New Jersey in 1924

New Flame Thrower tosses fires gasoline Little Falls N.J

1945New Flame Thrower tosses fires gasoline Little Falls …

1950s–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

Today2 recent

2010PVWC Utility Bridge 20100316-jag9889

2005Little falls twp nj

The story

How Little Falls Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Little Falls Township.

Read it all →

Little Falls traces its first European settlement to 1711, when seven Bergen Dutch settlers banded together to begin farming. The Speer Homestead dates from c. 1785 (and may have originally been built in 1680).

The Morris Canal, once an important artery of trade and transportation until 1925 between the Delaware and Hudson rivers, wound its way through the township, and vestiges of it still remain today, some parts of which form a greenway.

Little Falls was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 2, 1868, from portions of Acquackanonk Township. On March 25, 1914, portions of the township were taken to form the borough of West Paterson (now Woodland Park).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Little Falls Township, 1829 to 1954

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

19th century
1829Post officeThe Little Falls post office opens
1874Post officeThe Singac post office opens
1876Born hereRobert Crooks Stanley is born here
1888On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20th century
1910In the archive50153.BA#001--Crossing--Squirrel Woods Road--Little Falls Township, NJ [1910.07.09]
1914Post officeThe Great Notch post office opens
1924In the archiveFreudenbergs in Little Falls, New Jersey in 1924
1937Post officeThe Singac post office closes
1945In the archiveNew Flame Thrower tosses fires gasoline Little Falls N.J
1954Post officeThe Great Notch post office closes

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.

Retake this view50153.BA#001--Crossing--Squirrel Woods Road--Little Falls Township, NJ [1910.07.09], 1910

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

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

1 historic place in Little Falls Township

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1985

Reynier Speer House

Buildings

Reynier Speer HouseBuilding

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

People over time

Little Falls Township, census by census

Between 1,282 and 14,432 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Little Falls Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old view50153.BA#001--Crossing--Squirrel Woods …: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

SingacIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Wayne Township4 historic placesC⁻Woodland ParkIts storyC⁻Great Notch1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Totowa1 historic placeC Montclair State UniversityIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Clifton4 historic placesB⁺Montclair Township54 historic placesA Cedar Grove Township2 historic placesC⁺North CaldwellIts storyC

Questions about Little Falls Township’s history

What year was Little Falls Township founded?

The Little Falls Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1868.

How does Little Falls Township rank for history?

Little Falls Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #168 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 Little Falls Township?

One place: the Reynier Speer House (listed 1985).

How old are the homes in Little Falls Township?

22% of Little Falls Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1957.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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) 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.

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