Old Tappan dates to 1894, and 4 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns · #360 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of Old Tappan was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1937 on and the census since 1900.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year.
History grade
What drives Old Tappan’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Old Tappan is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #360 of 468 in New Jersey. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Old Tappan’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 Old Tappan’s 8.3 sits above most of its state (67% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1894.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Old Tappan’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
Old Tappan, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Old Tappan yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Old Tappan (English pronunciation: /tæˈpæːn/ ) is a borough in northern Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 5,888, an increase of 138 (+2.4%) from the 2010 census count of 5,750, which in turn reflected an increase of 268 (+4.9%) from the 5,482 counted in the 2000 census. Old Tappan was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on October 18, 1894, from portions of Harrington Township, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. The borough was formed during the "Boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 18…
Old Tappan was established in 1894. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,750 to 5,888 (+2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Old Tappan in 1900
Passages that mention Old Tappan, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 682Read the page →
Read the text
Old Tappan District No. 19, is upon historic ground, Major Andre having been executed near the boundaries of this district. The first school building in No. 19 was built a long time ago. According to some accounts, it was about 1785, when a little school house was built with no ceiling and having a chimney built of sticks and mud. A house erected in 1856 was the fourth to be put up in the district, but they did not all occupy the same site.
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
Old Tappan, 1866 to 1988
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1894, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1900 counted 269 people here.
How does Old Tappan rank for history?
Old Tappan is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #360 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 Old Tappan?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Teunis Haring House (listed 1979, the first). 5 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Old Tappan?
3% of Old Tappan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 (4), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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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