Founding year: the first Rutherford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Rutherford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rutherford is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #148 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 Rutherford’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 Rutherford’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (50% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 7 listings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 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 Rutherford’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 Rutherford. 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 Rutherford.
Every building
Rutherford, building by building, 1884–1909
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The ridge above the New Jersey Meadowlands upon which Rutherford sits was settled by Lenape Native Americans long before the arrival of Walling Van Winkle in 1687. Union Avenue, which runs from the Meadowlands to the Passaic River, may have been an Indian trail, but was more likely a property boundary line; it was referenced in the 1668 grant of land by proprietary Governor Philip Carteret to John Berry.
Passages that mention Rutherford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 429Read the page →
Read the text
Park Avenue was laid out in 1866 by the commissioners, to connect the lands of the Rutherford Park Association with the depot. In 1867 an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the improvement of this street and soon after Ridge Road and Rutherford Avenue were laid out and graded, under an act of the Legislature, other streets following, through the efforts of land companies or by private individuals.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 414Read the page →
Read the text
In 1868 the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad was built givingrise to Kingsland village and South Rutherford. In the year 1890 the borough of Rutherford and Boiling Springs township were formed and in 1895 the borough of North Arlington was set off leaving the territory comprising Union township that which now lies between the two boroughs just named, with Berry's Creek on the East and the Passaic River on the West, for that organization.
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
Rutherford, 1870 to 1987
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 Rutherford post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Rutherford rank for history?
Rutherford is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #148 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 Rutherford?
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the William Carlos Williams House (listed 1973, the first), and 1 object.
How old are the homes in Rutherford?
43% of Rutherford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1945.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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