From Midland Park’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Midland Park began
When was Midland Park founded?
1873
The Midland Park post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1894. Another post office, Wortendyke (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,348 in 19002020 census: 7,014153 years
How historic is Midland Park?
B+
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Midland Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1894.
History grade
What drives Midland Park’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Midland Park is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #160 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 Midland Park’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 Midland Park’s 10.0 sits above most of its state (68% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 (±5.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1894 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Midland Park’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 Midland Park. 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 Midland Park.
The story so far
Midland Park, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Midland Park yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Midland Park 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 7,014, a decrease of 114 (−1.6%) from the 2010 census count of 7,128, which in turn reflected an increase of 181 (+2.6%) from the 6,947 counted in the 2000 census. Midland Park was incorporated as a borough on September 6, 1894, at the height of the "Boroughitis" craze then sweeping through Bergen County that led to the creation of over two dozen new municipalities in the county in that one year alone. The new borough consisted of portions of both Franklin Township and Ridgewood Township. The borough expanded in April 1920 by adding another part of F…
Its first post office opened in 1873. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 7,128 in 2010, 7,014 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Midland Park in 1900
Passages that mention Midland Park, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 245Read the page →
Read the text
distance to New York is twenty-one miles and places us within easy reach of the Metropolis. The train service is excellent, seventy trains stopping daily at the Ridgewood station. In addition to this, Undercliff station on the Erie and Midland Park station on the Susquehanna and Western are also within the limits of the village, thus furnishing every section with frequent and convenient trains."
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
Midland Park, 1826 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Midland Park post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1894.
How does Midland Park rank for history?
Midland Park is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #160 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 Midland Park?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Lozier House and Van Riper Mill (listed 1975, the first). 7 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Midland Park?
28% of Midland Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 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 (9), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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